


Exodus

by fandomtrashheap



Series: Universe [1]
Category: 2NE1, EXO (Band), MARMELLO (Band), NCT (Band), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - MAMA (EXO Music Video), Gen, Kinda, M/M, Minor Character Death, Ot12 gotta go save the world now, The ships arent major, You can enjoy the fic without liking the ships, super cameos boi, you'll see - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2019-04-15
Packaged: 2019-05-02 20:48:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 92,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14553231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fandomtrashheap/pseuds/fandomtrashheap
Summary: Kim Joonmyeon is your average high school kid, other than the fact he's half alien. When he ends up in a world where he has to protect, he doesn't end up alone.On top of staying alive, protecting the ones he loves, and interpreting a prophecy, he has to find out something else. What happened to the others that were taken and what to they want with them.





	1. I accidentally drown the flower pot

I don't know who came up with this idea, but whoever told you having abilities was easy deserves to be shunned, cursed, and then exiled. 

Allow me to explain. 

My name is Kim Joonmyeon, I'm 17 years old and hail from the city of Incheon in South Korea. I'm pretty average looking. I have short black hair, fair skin, and blue eyes. Yes blue eyes, try to keep up. 

When I was three that's when I actually got tangled in this mess really. It was when my parents and I found out what I was and what I can do. We were at the beach, just the three of us for some of that family time my mom says we should have again. I was told not to go far into the water without an adult, but I was three and didn't care what was the greater good. I went face first into the water, and began to swim. The really important fact is that I was three and had never been taught to swim. When my mom pulled me out the ocean, I was dry. Which prompted her to take me straight to my father after she almost had a heart attack. 

The reason she wanted to take me to my father was simple. My dad is an alien.

No dramatic gasp? Really? I'll just carry on then.

When my mom was 17 a purple meteor crashed in Incheon when my mom was coming back from school. At least, that's what it looked like at first. It was a spaceship, which makes more sense than a purple meteor. My mother said there were more than my father, they scattered across the world. He never told her where they came from or why they ended up on earth, but she didn't care because she loved him as much as he loved her.

"...And remember, if you see any signs of the inhuman species please contact your local wasps. Do this as soon as possible for a safer city,a safer South Korea." The television reporter said through the screen, and in return I scowled. Those people are the ones. The ones who took my father away from me so long ago I don't even remember him. But he left me with a black pendant that looked like a water droplet with a circle inside with two lines going and meeting on the left side. A third line went from the top of the pendant to the top of the circle. I wear it every day He also gave me the ability to manipulate and breath water, but only liquid. Ice is completely off the table (that includes snow unfortunately). 

I've never been pressured to hide what I can do, but I'm smart enough to know the rules. I can't use it outside of the house, I can't tell anyone but the others I know about that are my friends, and to never stay near the Wasps nests. 

"Joonmyeon hun?" My mom called from behind me. "Yes?"

"Turn off the TV, you know how we both get when we see those. Also, you've drowned the flower pots again. And there's still..." She pointed up to where a bubble of water was standing perfectly still above the island in the kitchen. I smiled apologetically and dispersed the water with the lift of my finger. My mom doesn't have any powers, so she couldn't teach me to control them. Sometimes they get out of hand when my emotions are involved. Let's just say at school I'm an extremely calm person.

 "Tell me if you have any of those dreams again okay? It's summer, so you can't use getting to school on time as an excuse. "

"They're just dreams mom." My mom didn't believe me, she thinks it has something to do with my powers. I personally don't want whatever life comes with those dreams, I just want to be normal. Well as normal as I can be.

If I get into that life, I might put my mother in danger.

But life didn't care if I wanted to enjoy my time. When I dreamt, I got all 11 things that I've gotten before.


	2. Wings Log

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wing Log... 什么

Flying across the ocean was easy, it was getting close that was hard. The dreams were already full of them, but now that I'm across there are even more. He seems to be okay with his gifts but unwilling in a sense. But then again, who could blame him? 

But from personal experience; it is better to accept than to repress.

I'm not worried about being caught, I've made peace with the thought many years ago. I worry that if I am caught, so will others. 

At times I feel like I am too serious, or that I should try to make an effort to not act like this. Then I remember our of the two of us I am the only one who actually knows where some of us are. I seem to be the only one who is even interested in them like this. Because I know he's interested, but he doesn't want to get involved. I don't understand how the universe picked him to be like me, but I didn't choose this life anyway.

This seems like a lot for just dream knowledge, but I've had so many that I've even blacked out to have them. Thankfully my body makes up for it by calling it a lack of fluids when it happens and I was taken to the doctor. 

I don't know where, when, or who exactly he is, but I need to find him. Him and the others. Not just because I have to, but because I need to know what this all means. 

Mom I don't know when you'll get this, because you won't be able to send one back. The world I live in is scary, I won't be able to come back soon if ever. I will continue to send these though, as long as I can. 

Don't forget about me, but if they find you don't help me and save yourself. I love you. 


	3. I almost die :)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Joonmyeon has a dream. But one if those dreams where you need to have it another 300 times to understand it. 
> 
> He doesn't have 300 more times.

In my dream, I'm falling. It's awful thanks for asking. I'm falling towards the ground, and I brace for the horrible impact of death. It doesn't come, instead a pair of hands grabs my wrist and pulls me up. I try to turn and look at him, but it's no use. All I can see is the begginings of a tattoo of a something on his left shoulder. I speak to him, but my voice is muffled to the point I don't even hear me. 

We begin to descend and when we land in the ground, he's gone. Suddenly by a gust of wind I'm pushed into... water? Water is good, I don't mind this. I see someone's hand go into the water, and it begins to become hard to move. The water is freezing. 

I can't manipulate frozen water. I can't  _breathe_ in frozen water.

I try to swim to the top, but it's to late and the last of the oxygen is being removed. The boys hand is gone but I can see him standing above the ice. Then, another pair of feet join his and they speak that was muffled again. Then the two walk off the ice and I can feel my lungs begin to burn. But I can't move and I can't even blink. A hand is placed above me, and from it a feeling comes from it. A warm feeling spreads throughout the ice I am trapped in and I realize it is melting. The person had saved me. But by the time the ice wa liquid and I could breathe again, he was gone. 

I climb out the water, but in my dream I'm still wet. Suddenly a boy is in front of me, and when I blink he's gone. The ground from under me splits open and I fall in. As I fall I look up and see the sky changing from day to night multiple times like a minecraft world that I hacked into. Then when I finally stopped I'm back on solid ground by the water I fell into. From the ground, purple flowers sprout in a path and I feel the urge to follow them. In the dream I have 10% free will so I end up following them even though what I want is to wake up from this borderline nightmare. I'm met with what looks like a pair of doors. In them there is a boy. I want to walk to him but I'm stuck in place. Why can't I move to them.

_not time yet_

Who said that? I didn't see the boy move in any sense. 

Then I'm in the sky. Great.

A gust of wind had pushed me up to see what looks like a hexagon where the doors stand. There are 12 symbols; nine around with two in the middle. And one in the middle, was the same as my  _pendant._

Then something pushed me out of the air and into the ground. It was a boy, the same that saved me from falling out of the sky just pushed me out of the sky. I recognize the tattoo on his shoulder. He has piercing eyes and strong eyebrows. His hair is brown and parted on the left, with a small pair of lips. Then he begins to fade away into a bright light. The light then comes for me.

 

And I wake up gasping and fall out my bed. I don't worry about the throbbing in my head from falling, or the fact I don't even have slippers on. I run out of my room and into the office where we keep out art supplies. All I could think of was drawing that boy I saw. My mom walks into the office and I give her a glance and a smile before grabbing pencils. "What's got you in a hurry?" 

"Dream." Her face changes into a mix of intriguing and questioning, "I thought you didn't want to mess with those."

"I didn't until I actually saw him."

"Who?" 

"A boy. He's popped up so many times but I've never gotten a look at his face until this time." Mom was silent as she looked at me before suddenly leaving. I wanted to follow her, but she was back before I could even leave. "What? Stop staring and start drawing." She was holding a large book which she set across from me as she took a seat. I began an outline of the boy's face. 

"So this is a book your father kept," I stopped and looked up but she pointed back at the paper, "He only wanted me to show it to you if you wanted to know about this world, which you didn't so I had no one to talk to about the stuff in here. But now I do, and I think there is something in here." She began flipping pages and I worked on the easiest part of this drawing; the eyes. They were sharp and deadly. 

"If you had this book, why didn't you at least tell me you had it?" 

"At age 13 you said and I quote  _"The last thing I want is to be in all of this. I just wanna get through school."_ So you played this card." Well, I can't argue with the truth of the matter. "What is this book exactly about?"

"The race your father was. Their history," She started reading, "As a species we often are to group together with others on the planet. If you have not already met your luxion, you will be guided to them though what most other races call dreams. A second way to make sure you have become part of your luxion is by recognizing the signs your luxion has. Luxions might have the same sign, or different signs with similar attributes." My mother looked back at my drawing. "The pendant, " I say to both of us, "The way my pendant looks, I saw 11 more. Mine and another surrounded by the rest."

She nods before continuing to read. "In a luxion, just like us as a whole, needs a leader. The leader is the one who will have the most dreams and who will know the signs of the luxion. In rare luxions, there is not a leader but a special bond between each member in the luxion. A leaderless luxion will not have their symbol shown until all of the luxion have gathered in the same area. If you choose to not go with your luxion, you will not be able to function perfectly and intense side effects may happen," She closed the book, "The rest is in the language they spoke. I don't know why it cuts off so suddenly." I had a thought but I didn't want to voice it. I had too though, or things might happen. "M-Mom?"

"Yes Myun?"

"I think I'm a leader."

"I know."

"That means I have to find the other 11 doesn't it." Mom nodded slowly. Suddenly I heard a rumble from the kitchen, a rumble probably from the sink. "Joonmyeon, calm down. Don't burst the pipes and flood our house again, too many times and they have the Wasps check into it." I take a deep breath in through my nose and out my mouth until the rumble dissolves. "I don't know if I can do this mom. Who decided it was okay to pick me, I don't even know where to start. What if they don't want me to help them? What if the Wasps already have them?"

"You can't predict everything, and no one said you have to leave today. When you're ready I'll pack your bag and you'll go off saving people." I give a soft smile. "You sound like you don't want me to leave."

"I want you to do this of course, if you don't go you'll get hurt. And to you, the boys you're going to find are going to mean so much to you." 

"I haven't even met them yet. And how am I supposed to find them, it's not like I have a magical map." 

"No one said this would be easy," My mom walked to my seat, "No one said managing your powers would be easy, but we overcame it. So this, this will be a piece of cake." 

"You know I won't be able to talk to you a lot so we don't get caught."

"Just send me a carrier pigeon every now and then." She always manages to see the bright side of everything. "I'll try to visit at least once." Mom shook her head, "Just when you find all of them and I know you will, take a risk and send a picture from a heavily guarded phone." I nod and my mom is about to walk out when I ask, "Don't worry or miss me too much."

"Oh Myeon, I worry about you anyway. There's a lot for me to worry about but I have faith in you. Someone needs to." She smiles brightly at me before walking out the office. I look down at the quickly thrown together sketch of the nameless boy. There was something about him that made me feel something. Like a need to find him, but I didn't know where to start or how to begin. In a perfect world I would probably already know him, the others would be here and the Wasps wouldn't exist. 

But this isn't a perfect world, and it's okay.


	4. Wings Log 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wings Log... 为什么

I had more dreams again. In this one I had no will and watched me push the boy out of the sky. I shouldn't have, I needed him to reach the bottom like I did. I woke up angry, but there was nothing I could do. If you were here you'd have stopped me from even getting any type of mad. 

I think I'm getting closer to him, as I keep feeling a pull every now and then. Like an invisible rope is telling me where to go. Is it bad to be a little scared even though I've been preparing since I was old enough to understand? Not enough to have second thoughts but to be hesitant some moments? 

I've realized you can sometimes write back in your special way, but receiving them might give me away. I will have to see them some other time, or when I at least have found him. I have had Wasps almost on my case, but I don't believe they have seen me yet. 

I don't know if I'm ready to throw him into the life I'm in. Is it weakness if I think like this?

Nevertheless, the pull is coming back in the direction of a city spelled with an 'I' if I'm not mistaken. I'll wrap this one up as I normally do, I love you and miss you. When I'm done, we can maybe hold them all.


	5. Sleepwalking into a screen door

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kids, don't try that at home

You know when you dream and forget entirely what you dreamed about but it left you feeling some type of way emotionally? Like you had a nightmare but you remember nothing but you feel scared? Yes this is how I felt.

Except it was physically and I ran into a door. 

I have no clue how I ended up there, just feeling a sharp pain in my head and then waking up. It had been five days since the dream and the boy, so I didn't think this was related at first. It must've been really loud, because my mom came in. "Joonmyeon? What happened?" I shook my head, "I don't know. I woke up- aish..." The pain set in, it was not fun. My mom went to the freezer to get me an ice pack. 

Then, my brain went and said,  _Hey what if we go outside? And even better, go to the bus stop._

I had no reason to think about going to the bus stop in the middle of the night. But I'm rarely functioning in the middle of the night. Also, there was a pull in my chest like a magnet. "Mom," I said as I held the ice pack to my head, "You know how the book spoke about side effects?" She sat down on the floor where I was. "Do you think..."

"I mean, there's also a feeling inside right now. Like I've gotta go somewhere."

"Where?"

"No clue, it's just telling me to go like it has a sense of direction."

"That might have been why you were sleepwalking." The throbbing took the center of my attention again at the mention of it. "Could my inner GPS at least come programmed with the ability to open doors? But um, does this mean I have to go soon?"

"I guess it does. I don't want it to get worse. How soon do you want to leave?"

"Tomorrow?"

 _"Tomorrow?"_ I nod. "I don't want to leave either so soon, but I have to. If I don't the magnet feeling might get worse and hop out if me. Literally. The book said the side effects could be bad, we can't risk that."

"I know. I've reread that part over and over in hopes that it would make it easier but it doesn't Joonmyeon. Powers or not you're still my  _son_ and I'm allowed to not want you to leave me. You just turned 17, you haven't even finished school!"

"I'm not saying you don't have to worry you know. I just need someone to believe in me. Like a power up."

"Ah Myeon," My mom sat next to me, "I'll always believe in you. I just have to treat this like going off to college, except you might die."

"What's the difference?" She laughed softly. "Were you ever scared when you found out about dad?"

"Oh yes I was terrified." It was hard to believe. My mom, the woman who casually climbed mountains when we had the chance. Who was known as the crazy one in our family. (Of course, they didn't know about my dad or they'd turn us in. Long story short our family sucks.) Her being anywhere near terrified seemed impossible. "But I know that I'd rather be scared and happy than safe and miserable. Like now." 

"You'll be miserable if I stay? Now I'm confused."

"If you stay, you'll get bad side effects that I won't be able to bear seeing you with. So the pros of you leaving are better than the ones where you stay." I sigh, and run water from the kitchen sink before letting it weave it's way through my fingers. I separate it into droplets then one whole bubble and continue the action. "As persistent as I am, I don't actually want to leave. But we both know I can't stay." 

"For the record you were a lovely kid. You didn't die once!"

"Nice to know." Mom smiles at me, "Both of us should go to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow." I nodded, and we both get up before going to our rooms.

As I fall back asleep after having my usual overthinking process I dream. I think. It's confusing.

I see the blurry vision of a woman. I can tell she's got blue hair and possibly purple irises. It was like waves were going through her face.  _"Hello? Hello? Oh there you are! Quite blurry you are to me. Nice eyes, like your fathers. I sense many things about you but no time to tell you everything. Only important things unlike my name or your name. Time time is coming and you must be ready, tomorrow before dusk you must already be on your way to everything. It will be too late if you wait any longer understand? I must go now but we shall see eachother soon!_

She faded out, and when I opened my eyes it was morning. I took a shower and put on some basic clothes before it hit me that today was the day.  _The day._ But also how did that woman know my father? I didn't even have a glimpse of her face really, so I couldn't ask mom.

When I walked out into the kitchen, Mom was there. There was a duffle bag in her lap. "You packed for me?" She nodded. "A few changes of clothes, toothbrushes and ect."

"Why more than one toothbrush?"

"11 more, since those were how many symbols you saw. Please remind them to brush. I know they're saving the world-"   

"I'm not saving the world. Just a few kids."

"- But it's hard to get people to listen to you when your teeth are the same color as corn. But that isn't it. A lock pick is in here and our families calling card- money."

Our family was loaded to say the least, each and every one having been in the business since they were 19. When my mom was 19 she wanted to be a baker, and that's what she did. It was long too late to take away her share of the money, she was written into both her parent's wills and got about 4.3 million dollars combined out of it. We don't have an extravagant house or anything like that, just money saved away for trips or the important moments. And this was very important. 

"How many different types of currency do we even have?"

"Other than Korean? Chinese Yuan, American Dollars, and Japanese Yen. If push comes to shove and you have to exchange it and they don't approve or something just tell them who you're related to. It's low but normally works. And I only packed clothes that were normal and not suspicious looking. And the lock pick if you need to steal something money won't buy." 

"How do you know how to do these things?"

"Remember that one summer I told you about where my parents had to go on a trip and left me with my aunt? Yeah. They said if she outlived them she'd get a surprise after they heard about how she was. The surprise was the fact she was completely written out of my mother's will and all money was given to me. It was lovely." 

Then I felt a sharp tug in my chest, like it wanted to pull me too the door. I looked at my chest and decided it was an asshole, then told my mom. "My inner GPS is back again." She handed me the duffle and stood up, wrapping me in a tight hug. "You go out there and save those 11. I've never been good at giving long speeches or thing like that but I trust in you Joonmyeon. You are a good person, I believe you can do this. So go out there and don't die for me alright?" My mother is not a crier, she is not the type to do that and she didn't cry now either. She hugged me one last time and walked me to the door. "I put in there one other thing, but look at it when you get on the bus. Now go get them, and kick a Wasps ass for me would you?" 

"I'll try." 

"But only if it is safe enough! I love you!"

"I love you too!" I walk away from my house without looking back because I know that if I turn back I'll lose my nerves.  _Bus stop bus stop bus stop._ The pull seemed to say. Well sure you stupid GPS let's go to the bus since you've wanted to go there all day.  _Good, since I was patient enough to let you say goodbye._ I stop short. The pull really seemed to know what I was thinking.  _Because I do. And I'm not a pull. Well I am but I'm more than that now keep walking. I'm your pendant._

This is terrifying. Someone is actually commenting on my inner monologue. And how can my pendant speak?  _Because I can. I cannot tell you too much._ Well could you tell me where I can find the first in my Luxion?  _I don't know Earth. I can only guide you to him, like you should really go to the bus sto-_ "I'm going you can shut up now." I say, slightly agitated. Wow. I just spoke to it out loud.

I just had to leave my family and it just decides that 'Hey, you know what Kim Joonmyeon who has now the fate of 11 other people on him wants? To suffer through a pendant that has been dormant his entire life only to speak at the most inconvenient of times.' That is exactly not what i wanted if you didn't catch it.

Thankfully it stays silent until we get on the bus it tells me to. It doesn't really tell me it just gave me a pull. When I got on the bus it spoke (?) again.  _Your father didn't have me to wake until you were to find them. Get off on the third stop._ I open bag and pool through it until my fingers tap a hard surface. I move more things and pull out the book my mother was showing me. 

This time I got a better look at the cover. There was conveniently no title, it was a deep purple with engravements of swirls near the spine. The spine itself had constellations etched into it. I didn't have times to peel through looking for what I could read as our stop was pulling up. 

I pay the bus driver before hopping off and sitting at the bench waiting for the next set of GPS directions. 

 _That street with the coffee shop. Go in that direction._ I go in that direction and keep walking until a boy runs into me. Neither of us fall but he apologizes. His curly blonde hair bounces as he bows before he dashes off. 

I don't hear anymore directions so I keep walking until I end up in front of a forest. It wasn't like ones with paths and nice dramatic sculptures or things like that, it was a forest. Like ones my mom went through. She never got to take me though. "I-Is this it?" I say, barely a whisper. I didn't factor in I might have to do this.  _Definitely. It's so strong here. You must go in._

"I'm not really suited for-" I get cut off by a pull so strong I'm pushed closer to the trees. "Alright. Let's go find them." And I weave my way though the trees and into the rest of the forest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay since summer is here and I'm done travelling for a tad I will have a kinda sorta schedule for updates worked out! Kinda sorta because I have specific days I will update fics, I just don't know when it will be this fic specifically. I will update a chapter from each book every 5th, 10th, 20th, and 30th for the duration of the summer at 3 p.m to 8 p.m cdt at the hour.
> 
> When I update the book depends on how long it takes me to write the chapter, so on those days I listed please keep your Hope's up! Maybe I'll post a new chapter!


	6. Wings Log 3 and perhaps the last log

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 这里

I'm so close I can feel it. I feel restless, I can't sit still long without having to walk again. At first I was skeptical about who I was finding, but the pull was stronger than anything ever. He has to be like me I know it.

A few Wasps followed me to the city, but i unfortunately had to get rid of them. You'd think I was over it, but each time I take a life I feel horrible. I brush it off of course, I have to keep moving. I will get revenge I promise. 

My fear is strong, that he won't know a thing about us. I thought about searching for the Gasa's you told me about, but there was no time. They are my main priority. Even above payback.

I am risking a lot sending this to you, and it will be my last one for a while. I mean it this time. Say hi to Galaxy for me. I'm in a forest, I shall have a good amount of ways to send you letters when it is safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If Wings Log shall ever return, they will be updated the same day as the normal chapter but at a surprise later time.


	7. I save the angel of Dumplings and maple syrup

Don't you just hate it when you're searching the woods for a member of your Luxion and the first thing he does is punch you in the shoulder? Yeah me too.

I was basing my entire search off a horrible version of hot and cold. The tug was so strong that if I was even two steps off it literally pulled me back the right way. (The marks in the ground proved it.) Unfortunately it could not tell me directly how in the everlasting hell how to navigate any better. 

Oh and did I mention my talking pendant went back to sleep 20 minutes after I got into the woods? It went  _"I have sent you on the correct path. Now you must travel without me."_ It was like when a director kills off a character just because they have no use anymore. Except this time it could've still been useful. 

It was when I got to a clearing, did the tug suddenly go out. As if the feeling never existed in the first place. I looked in a circle at the forest; trees taller than buildings, mostly thick but I was lucky to find a less complex route. It would have been beautiful to go camping. I was left alone to figure out where to go, but with that being said there wasn't much for me to go off of anyway. Everything looked the same, I couldn't even remember my path out of here.

And behind another tree, a boy had his back turned towards me. I quietly approach him which was probably my first mistake. When I end up close to him, a branch conveniently snapped under my right foot and he turned around quickly. I honestly should've expected it, but I was not prepared when his fist made contact with my shoulder. I fall and he looks about ready to punch me again so I put my hands up in front of my face. But he doesn't punch me. Instead he lowers my hands and pulls me back up. On his left bicep was a tattoo of a scorpion. 

 Oh god it's angel scorpion man.

His mouth is covered by a black mask. He puts his finger up to where his lips would've been, signaling for me to be quiet. He was tall, very tall and had blonde dyed hair parted to the left. Our bags were sitting next to him; his red and black and looked more like a backpack rather than my pale blue duffel. He pulled a black mask out of his and handed it to me. Then, he showed me from a chain around his neck, a pendant. It looked like a dragon raising her wings. As I put it on, he grabbed our stuff, put his backpack on his back, pulled my wrist, and we ran.

 It was difficult to run through a forest this thick, but luckily there were clearings. Clearings that he didn't let us stop at. Now I know you're going,  _'Kim Joonmyeon why are you going with this man just because he had a pendant.'_ And the reason is because if he didn't even have time to talk to me whatever we're running from is bad. Also I was lost. And still in shock because wow my dreams were real.

This time we went into a clearing, he let us stop. My legs felt like we ran a marathon, but scorpion angel didn't seem to be bothered. Dressed in a black hoodie, blue jeans and black converse, he sat on a stump and took off his mask. He looked at me then sighed, "You can sit down, we're safe for now. Until we get out of the forest."

"You were in my dreams. You were scorpion angel boy," I honestly didn't mean to say the last part, and from the look on his face I probably shouldn't have. So I tried again, "What is your name?"

"Kris Wu."

"From China?" He nodded. "China then moved to Canada when I was 10."

"Dumplings and maple syrup. The wonders of the world." Why am I saying things dumber than usual? This time the corner of his mouth twitched. "I guess."

"What are we running from?" 

"You know what we're running from." He was right. Wasps, that's what we were running from."Well my name is Kim Joonmyeon, and I think I'm the leader." Kris raised an eyebrow. "I was the-" He suddenly stopped talking; his eyes looked above me. "Joonmyeon!" He launched himself from the stump and tackled me to the ground. I heard something wiz above us as pain in my back began to form. "W-what?"

"I waited too long, they're here. Get up," He pulled me up roughly and we ran again, but didn't get far before I saw one behind us. "Put on the mask, no questions." I did and then I heard a small boom. Like a tiny bomb. Then I realized he was covering me, but not just him. The wings I saw in my dream, attached to him.

They were large, and grey; like storm clouds were around me. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah."

"Okay, I'm gonna fly us- argh!" He squeezed me tightly, then fell to the ground. In his shoulder, a taser gun had itself hooked into it. It was enough to knock him out, but still breathing. 

Suddenly a hand grabbed my shoulder, I saw around me black wisps of something in the air. The man who grabbed me was wearing black all over save for yellow accents around the workings of his body suit, and a full face mask that had a yellow hexagon where the mouth was. Wasps. It was a Wasp. I heard him say, "This is Red claw leader. Send in the subunit. No backup needed, it will take about 15 minutes since I need to return a hostage. 

Hostage? He thought I was human. Well, all human. "Are you hurt?" I shook my head, scared into silence. What if I give away the fact I'm not normal? What if the masks they wear show that I am one? I shakily point my finger to Kris. "Don't worry about him, he won't bother you anymore. We will pick him and others like him away from you and all other humans." I nod, playing along and see two more Wasps come out of the woods. The Wasp on still with a hold on me backed me about ten feet away. "This is the Red Claw subunit. We have made it safely to the objective, we will report back when we are done." The one on my right said, walking to Kris. "I can't believe it actually took a hostage. I mean you said it, but I couldn't believe it." Said the one on the left, holding a black case with the word "Wasp" written on it. "Move it boys, who knows how long he'll be out, and we still have the kid."

"Alright, not like we weren't already moving." They squatted near Kris, and I realized they weren't just taking him. Whatever they had in that case was going into him. I waved my fingers slowly, calling on any water nearby. I could feel it coming from a stream, and I pushed it faster. It was under us, and the Wasp by me looked down. I clenched my fist and it pushed him to the ground then surrounded his face. He thrashed at the liquid as I pushed it into his mask. He threw it off but I had the water still surround him. His members turned to me and stopped whatever they were doing with Kris. "What the hell-" I surrounded the man near the cases head with my other hand before pushing it up his mask as well. I could tell when they were losing conciousness in the water, and released the first man when he knocked out. I didn't want to kill him. And the other man went for the case, but I used my now free hand to do the same with the water. That's when I realized the second man; I hadn't let him go. I'd been holding him underwater for four minutes. I let him and the other go immediately, although the third wasn't knocked out. 

He threw off his mask and scooted back from me as I walked closer to Kris who was still unconscious. "I'm not going to hurt you again," I say softly, feeling Kris's neck for a pulse which I found, "I just don't want to die. We aren't evil, so why do you hate us?" The Wasp is silent. It was a girl. But the way her voice sounded under the mask was male. She looked about my age. Her hair is brown and pulled into a bun. "Did I... did I kill him?" She looks at me, then nods slowly. "I'm sorry." I see Kris begins to wake up. "He will hurt you when he has his head on right, go back to your people. Take him too." I nod towards the man I knocked out. She takes my advice and runs through the woods with him on her back.

I turn all my attention on ripping the stun gun thingy from out of Kris. He grunts when I do but sits up anyway. "Are you okay?" He asks me. "Am I okay? You just got electrocuted!" 

"I know. How did you get away from him?"

"He thought I was human, and then I knocked him out." 

"Well then we need to go. Who knows when he'll wake up." I slip the mask down to my chin. "That isn't him. He- I drowned him."

"Cool!"

"No not cool!" I exclaim. "I just killed someone! I didn't want to kill him I just wanted to knock him out like I did the others!"

"How many were there?"

"Three, I sent the other two down the stream." It wasn't a total lie, downstream is the way the girl took her unconscious partner. "So your gift is water?" I nod, and show him my pendant. "Look, a little drop. And you can fly which is much cooler."

"Debatable. But we have to go, they'll be looking for their men." His wings begin to get smaller, and somehow disappear back through his shirt without any hint of otherwise. I help him up and sling his arm over my shoulder before we continue. 

* * *

 

It's almost night when we get back to the city. By now Kris is walking just as fast as usual and I'm the one lagging behind. He doesn't comment, but I can tell I'm hindering him. He seems to have been at this much longer than I have. I see the first hotel and point at it. He shakes his head, "They'll check nearby hotels for all people and anyone who has seen us. That's why I wear the mask. We gotta keep moving."

"D-do you know where any others are?" 

"No. I say we just try to get as far away from town as possible. A bullet train to Gangneung would work. Skip Seoul of course." Of course we'll skip Seoul, who is stupid enough to be one of us anand live right near the capital? The biggest Wasp's nest in the world? "I know where they are, follow me." I walk ahead of him for the first time all day.  

When we get to the train station, I begin sifting through my bag for money when Kris stops me. "I've got that foreigner pass, and I'll pay for your fare."

"You really don't have to."

"You saved my ass, it's the least I could do." 

"Kris, my family is loaded. You really don't have to." He looks at me, then shrugs. "Alright." I pull out 54,000 won before zipping it up. We catch the train with a good ten people in the car. We sit in the back after paying up. I was going to take the window seat when Kris stopped me once again. "If they see you by me, you'll get stopped."

"You wore your mask the entire time, and by the way, they weren't chasing  _me._ They don't know my face." He let me sit, and got in the seat next to me. "They don't really know my face. Anyway, how are you the leader? I don't think that can be possible, that would mean both of us are leaders. Again impossible, no Luxions have ever had two leaders. Maybe some without leaders but none with more than one. How could that even work?"

"Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe there was only supposed to be one leader." He rolled his eyes, "First off; Halliyun never make mistakes."

"Halliyun?" He rolled his eyes a second time, "My second point; I've been in this longer than you have. If you don't even know what Halliyun are, how can you be the leader?" Wow, not even sugar coated. He didn't even ask the reason behind it. I'm beginning to hope it's a mistake for him to be in my Luxion. "You think I waltzed up one day and decided to be part of a Luxion? I'm just doing what it told me to do. Following the pull. So I'm sorry if I didn't learn what Halliyun are or what they even have to do with whatever we have to do. My dad was taken by the Wasps so excuse me for not being well educated in this." 

 "Then how do you have the book?" Oh. The book; he must've seen it when I was grabbing the money from my bag. "M-my mom had it. I guess my dad gave it to her." 

"We'll talk about it later, for now let's just be quiet. We still have like two hours left." He turned his head and put his mask over his eyes. 

I looked out the window, and the reality of this hit me. I'm actually doing this, I'm leaving and can kiss all thoughts of becoming a teacher goodbye. And I killed someone, I know my mom would definitely ground me for that one. Call it what you'd like but I have never been away from my mom for long periods of time. I know it was because we were scared a Wasp would see me and just know, but we never said it. 

And now I might never get to come back.

* * *

 

"Joonmyeon, wake up." I opened my eyes, when did I fall asleep? The train had stopped and I saw the words 'Gangneung South Station' roll across the screen. I grab my duffle and follow Kris out of the car and into the station. It's quiet, 10 p.m when I check my phone. We walk out and he eyes me, "Have you ever been to this side of Gangneung? I'm relying on you here."

"Once or twice, but I do know how to get to a hotel from a certain cafe 15 minutes from here." 

"Alright then," Kris places his mask back down to his mouth from where it rested on his forehead, "Let's go." 

We walked to the cafe with only minor mistakes on my part, but Kris did not seem to appreciate them. Or maybe that's just how he looked. He insisted on paying for a small snack at the cafe, and I let him. We ate on the bus and checked into the hotel. It was nice to do something right in this. 

 We decided to just share a room with two beds in case we have to quickly leave. We take the elevator to the second floor, and throw our stuff down on our beds. It's a small room, but it wasn't bad. For a moment, I accidentally bump into him and a wave of sorts flows through me. "Take a shower," I tell him, looking out the window and sitting on the bed closest to it, "You're tired but you need to shower. And you're dehydrated, drink water."

 "How do you know that?" 

"I guess when I brushed up against you I felt it. Like the water in your body or something. It's never happened before so I don't really know if I can control it yet. I didn't- I didn't mean to." Kris walked over to the bed and sat by me. "You're still shaken up because of what you did right?" I nod. "Have you ever..."

"Yeah. It doesn't get easier, but you realize something important; that you've gotta keep moving no matter what. Even if moving means doing things you hate. But you didn't kill all of them remember? It's fine."

"It's not fine!" I turn to look at him. "Because of me someone is dead."

"But because of you not all of them are dead." It was a mistake to kill him, but I  _had to._ I couldn't just let them do whatever they were going to do to Kris. And he is right, I didn't kill them all. I let the girl and her partner go. I just never thought that word would be associated with my name. "I'm going to shower since your water psychic powers told me to, but also because I would've even without your input." He grabbed some clothes out of his bag and went to the bathroom. 

I grabbed the remote and started flipping through channels before landing on a news on with an interesting headline.  _Ongoing Alien hunt finally ends, unfortunately with two casualties._ I turn up the volume. "...And we are here with Ha Yeonsoo, a member of the Wasps who was the only one in her squad conscious the entire attack. Please recall what you saw, as this was your first time as a field agent." It was the girl I let go, she had her Wasp uniform still on, but her hair in a Ponytail instead. 

"It was supposed to be a simple easy mission, since I'm 17 and just passing at the eligible age to be a field agent. It was too late when we heard the Alien species had taken a hostage, and I was still in the mission. My partner electrocuted it into unconsciousness before getting the hostage. My other partner and I then came to put him under stronger sedatives before getting him to where he can no longer harm anyone else. Before that however, he must have been faking as suddenly my partner with the hostage began to suffocate in his mask, and continued to do so even after he took it off. He was luckily only knocked unconscious before it focused on my partner, than me. I lost my second partner, and we all would've died if the hostage hadn't hit him. It was only enough to have him break focus on me, and change it to the hostage. I was too late in killing him however, as the hostage still died. I will take full responsibility in this."

"Well personally I believe you are a true hero. And to that hostage may god bless your family knowing you died for the right cause..." I tuned out after that. Why did Yeonsoo lie for me? I killed her partner. I didn't understand but I'm still grateful. I turn the television to cartoons because you're never too old for those, and quickly change clothes disregarding I told Kris to take a shower and not doing it myself. 

I am under the covers when Kris gets out the shower. He's wearing a black tank top and boxer shorts."Hypocrite." He mumbles, grabbing a water bottle. He faces the cartoon and I see another tattoo, similar to the wings he has. "Are you going to keep staring or ask me about it?" 

"How did you get a tattoo like that? Is the legal age different in Canada?"

"Well there isn't technically a legal age, which is how I got my scorpion, but they won't give me something as big as this before I turn 18 so no. The tattoo is the form my wings take when I'm not using them." I thought he was at least two years older than me. "And you say my power is cool. You got a free tattoo. Why did you get the scorpion?"

"To show I was a part of the 3% group in Vancouver."

"Who are the 3%?" He sighed and turned to me, "The 3%, 3% of the world believes that Halliyun aren't monsters nor deserve to be hunted. Since there is free speech they can't be prosecuted for it. Majority of them live in Canada and Britain so we stay together. And before you ask, Halliyun is the planet and race we are. It's far, not even in this solar system. Or the next." I felt like an idiot for not knowing these things when it seems like I should. "Sorry. I just never learned these things. Maybe this was a mistake."

"I told you on the train, Halliyun doesn't make mistakes. This will just be a lot of explaining on this mission. You're the leader, and I'm also the leader end of story. It doesn't matter as long as we find them. If you dream, tell me." I nod and he gets in the bed next to mine, and I hit the lamp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, a quick note about not updating this past week.
> 
> I was at camp, and there are no phones allowed (ㅜ.ㅜ) so I didn't get the chance to. Also I may not update after this because I will be in Disney world for a bit! And then school starts back up but I'm pretty sure I can keep this schedule up guys. If anything changes I'll be sure to let you guys know!


	8. We purchase two tickets of instant regret

Have I mentioned I hate dreaming? Well I hate dreaming. The dream was like the one of the woman with blue hair. She was back, and still wavy and unrecognizable in any other way.  _"Well it's been some time since we've spoken. Three weeks since I've visited you. Shame you haven't been anywhere I can pinpoint but today is the day. So get up and go follow it. I'll be back soon. Goodbye my little leader. Oh, and that wasn't your fault with him. Honestly, you never needed to beat yourself over that."_ See this is why I hate dreaming, nothing makes sense. 

I wake up at the same time Kris does, but much better than him. When he gets up he jerks so hard he fell out of his bed. He stands up almost immediately, hair messed up and the roots are beginning to grow out now. "I swear, I never wake up like that. I had a dream, but not a normal one."

"Did it happen to have a lady but like you couldn't see her face because it was blurred and wavy?"

"Yes. How do you know that?"

"We might have had the same person in our dreams. What was her hair color?"

"Blonde I'm pretty sure." 

"Same Luxion then." Kris shrugged, "Probably-" He stopped, and we both look at eachother. I feel a familiar feeling in my chest. "Did you..." He nods, eyes wide. "Do you know what this means Joonmyeon? We can finally get out of this stupid hotel!" We haven't felt a pull in three weeks so we only changed hotels after the first week and hid out in a different one. We didn't go very far off from the hotel, and some days didn't leave it. So yeah, we were bored out of our minds. 

We also didn't have any dreams so that was a pro- ish con. 

We took care of our personal hygiene (apparently his mom also made him bring a toothbrush), got dressed and checked out. "Come on," I told him, "The best place to figure out directly where the pull is is in the middle of a town or something." 

While we were holed up, we decided to read what we could of my Halliyun book. It was in a mix of Korean and Hain, which is the language Kris told me Halliyun speak. Unfortunately neither of us know it. There were thankfully whole paragraphs in Korean that we could get through. So now I know a little more about the exciting side of my family. The center of Gangneung takes about 15 minutes to get to by bus, so we got to the nearest bus stop. What I'm still wondering is how does that woman not only know about my father, but also what I'm assuming is to be about Kwanghee. I'm not going to talk about Kwanghee. 

"I hate hotel breakfast," Kris says as we get on the bus, "I'd rather eat what was served at my school."

"Was the food bad?"

"It was alright. Pretty good."

"Did you graduate?" Although we've spent like three weeks together, we don't ask many questions about each other's lives. Kris didn't seem like he wanted to share, so we didn't.  Kris nodded, "June 27th." I did the math in my head. "We met on July 1st. You literally went to graduation and then went looking for us."

"Who says I attended graduation? Graduation day is the 30th. I was already gone by then. You're like half a year younger than me, so you had a year left."

"But I don't have to worry about that now." He looked at me, "Bullshit. You enjoyed school. That's not a bad thing you know, enjoying it makes it go faster." I shrugged. "I guess. But it doesn't matter since I won't be going back really." He didn't reply. I guess he didn't want to confirm or deny my statement. To be honest I don't want him to. I'd like to believe that I could go back to a normal life, but I don't like false hope.

The middle of Gangneung is like the middle of any city: busy, big, and Wasp central. In fact, Kris and I could see the top of one of their buildings. I felt fear rise in me, there are more Wasps here than anywhere in the city. What if they see us, and one manages to recognize us somehow? What if one of the Wasps from our encounter sees us? 

Kris looked at me for a moment. "Unclench your fist and untense your shoulders. Don't look so shut off it makes you look more suspicious. Just be yourself. If you focus on the what if you won't be able to focus on the pull. You're safe I promise." I nod and try to relax and pay attention to the feeling in my chest. The pull is like a warm feeling, not like the sharp one I got while looking for Kris. We both are at the mercy of the feeling, trying our best to follow it while not having to suddenly change directions in the middle of the street. It was going good for the most part, it grew stronger every now and then so we were on the right path.

And then I got scared.  _Really_ scared. We were continuing on with a path that seemed to be heading in the right direction. We weren't going to risk taking a bus and messing up, so we walked. Up ahead there was a Wasp, but we had passed enough to the point it wasn't as nerve-wracking. He was talking to someone, when we walked past, I saw it wasn't another Wasp but two girls. Not like my age they were much younger. At most maybe 12. "... Sweetie it's that her hair is blonde, at her age she shouldn't dye her hair and I know your mother wouldn't let her do that."

"She's nine! She can do what she wants!"

"Yeah!" The little girl with short blonde hair was holding the hand of a taller girl with long black hair. The little blonde was vert short, even at child standards. Were Wasps even going after people with different colored hair now? "You can't just be a meanie to her just because her hair is light. My sisters are gonna come out of the store, and you're gonna be in trouble!" 

"Now I'm not taking her away, just testing her. If she is like us you can go on your way." 

"Well of course she's not like you, you're a boy and a grown up." The dark haired girl seemed to not know anything and just feigning the stranger danger mood, but I could tell that she knew what was up. I could also tell that she was Halliyun; it wasn't like a magic thing or anything like that, I just knew. 

"Come on Joonmyeon." Kris said. But I couldn't move, I felt frozen watching the scene. I began to remember things. The Wasp, the people who looked at us, the almost test. This can't be another Kwanghee. Is the world testing me? Another Kwanghee would mean bad things. Why does everything sound far, is Kris trying to tell me something? Why does my chest hurt? 

Then the blonde girl looks at me, then so does her sister and the Wasp. There are three other girls there now. Does he know I am Halliyun too? My head is spinning and clouded when the nearest fire hydrant to the Wasp bursts. Then the next. And then the pipes from the building behind me. My daze breaks enough for me to mouth  _'run'_ to who I think is the oldest girl. She nods I think and takes her siblings behind the shop as the Wasp is being sprayed by water from almost every direction. 

Then I'm also behind a building. How did I get here? Are the girls safe? Did I make another Kwanghee? Have I made an even bigger- 

"Joonmyeon, Joonmyeon please... on my voice. You're... store away from the Wasp. You're safe. Um... Today is... You are 17 years old and want to become a teacher. You have the gift to control water but not frozen water." I blink a few times and look at Kris clearly. He is slightly bent to match my height. This is the first time since I've met him that he looks genuinely worried about me. He seemed to be able to tell that I was back to normal, and he stood back up to his normal height. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, um I had a-" 

"I know. My mom has them sometimes, if I recite things that happened that day or things that are easy facts we know about each other helps her be more calm. I was hoping it would work for you too even though we don't know much about each other."

"Thank you. I'm sorry you had to see it though." He gave me that look he gives me when he has to explain things that I should know, and the worry he had (that I honestly might have hallucinated) was gone. "Don't apologize for the things you can't control or fix."

"Did the girls make it out okay?" He nodded. "They got out of there. I kind of saw them get on a bus while the Wasp was getting hosed. The water was weird, like you weren't in control but that was probably the case. Come on, I kept us on the path as best as we could."

 

 

* * *

 

The only good thing about going on a Luxion hunt in the city is that you can't suffer from being hit with branches every 29 seconds. With the pull becoming stronger every moment, the two of us are almost running to keep up with it. Soon the lampposts have red and yellow ribbon on them, and a bad feeling enters my gut. It's one of the ones you're supposed to listen to but you don't and it's too late when you do. 

There is a man in his maybe early thirties standing by one, and Kris stops to ask him, "What are the ribbons for?" He looks at us, then points down the road, "The circus. If you hurry, you can still get tickets." We take off, and the pull and bad gut feeling blow out of proportion. We get in line. "Whoever we're looking for is definitely in there."

"That's the bad thing." 

"What?"

"I forgot you were raised in Canada. There is a circus that travels through China and South Korea, it's slightly controversial because a lot of it's acts have been Halliyun like. You know; fire breathers, contortionists. They've even been checked out by the Wasps."

"So?" I pay for the tickets and pull Kris off to the side of the big top tent. "The Wasps left them alone. But for one reason. They enslave Halliyun to work there by threatening to turn you in. Kris this means we have to bust them out." 


	9. The big top is evil

"How many of these do you have?" I ask Kris. The show starts in 30 minutes and I'm still recovering from the emotional trauma of the encounter and the fact this is a slave circus, and Kris breaks out some burn phones. "Thirteen or so. I had a feeling they'd come in handy."

"Why?" He shrugs, "I've seen my fair share of NCIS. They can track phones like ours, but not burn phones back to a person. If we're breaking people out, we might be found out and then people are gonna start looking for us."

"How do you pick all of this up from a probably fake crime show- you know what never mind," I shake my head, "Thank you."

"No problem. Anyway; what's the plan?" I look at him. "Why should I be the one to come up with the plan?"

"You're the one who knew about the circus in the first place." 

"Then you should be the one to make the plan."

"Rock paper scissors then. Loser makes the plan." We play three times before someone loses; two paper, two rock, then two paper again. Who lost you ask? The answer is me I lost. And Kris had the audacity to look smug. "Shut up." I mumble as I think. "I didn't even say anything." He said very smugly. I sigh and sit on the ground near the side of the tent. I began to think out loud. "If we manage to get past the workers and check out the trailers where the performers are, we can easily get them out with no problems. I can literally see the trailers from here."

"Then why did we buy tickets?"

"Do you want to knock on every trailer until we find the person?" He was quiet, then. "Won't we have to knock on each trailer to figure out their names and stuff anyway?" 

"Have you ever been to a circus? Acts are almost always announced."

"Why are we assuming the person is even in the circus? They could be just someone coming to watch." I didn't think of that. Oh crap, what if he's right. Then we'd have to look through the crowd to find them. That should've been so obvious to me. I told him I shouldn't make the plan, it's got a giant hole in it. "Hey Joonmyeon, it's okay. No plan is ever foolproof, and it's not like this is unfixable. I'll take a phone and pay more attention to the crowd, and you focus on the show."

"Oh, okay." Why didn't I think of that? I feel stupid now. "Stop doing that face, you have no reason to make that face."

"What face?" 

"The face you make whenever I tell you something about Halliyun that you don't know about. It's the half pout half discouraged face and it shouldn't be here. Stop acting like you're less than this. You've never done this before, so stop beating yourself up about it." If it wasn't for the natural sharpness of Kris' voice whenever he talks to me, I'd think of it as a pep talk. "Okay," I say as we get to the entrance, "All we really need to do is get past workers and stuff. But it's a circus, how hard is that?"

* * *

 

 A thing neither of us factored into this half-baked plan, is that we'd have to take different seats. Kris was somewhere on the other side of the seats, a burn phone on him. The pull is almost unbearable, which means it's close by. I can't see Kris, and the show has been going for around almost an hour which meant intermission was soon. It would have been an amazing performance, given that it wasn't being held together by enslaved people. "And now ladies and gentlemen, we give you our final act of the first half; the beautiful aerial performance of opposing yet attracting elements." Came over the loudspeaker. The lights go off, and a red spotlight is emitted from the stage. A boy holding a large satin rope hanging from the ceiling or something stands the middle of the stage, and my pulls suddenly goes out just like it did for Kris in the forest. It was him. He looks up with confusion on his face, and I think it's part of the act until his eyes meet mine. Not like when they scan the crowd and stuff, but like he stopped and his eyes met mine for a good 20 seconds. He has shoulder length brown hair pulled into a tiny ponytail wearing a black sparkly leotard looking thing

 Then he started on his act as the music began to play. He closed his eyes and let go of the rope he brings his hands up above his head and then looks into the air. Another light is on, a blue one this time, and it slowly is following a boy with black hair and a sharp jaw in matching uniform with dark blue gloves who is tied to the rope by his waist with what might be a wrap on his left ankle. He looks down at him and suddenly for a second the pull is back at full force and I even move out of my seat a little and then it's gone. The boy in the satin swings forward at the same time. That can't be a coincidence, can it? 

He gets about halfway before the boy on the floor reaches up for him, he moves back and the boy jumps to try to reach him. Then, a second light comes on and reveals another satin rope. He gets on it and wraps his waist in like .3 seconds and is on his way up. I've never seen this before, so don't expect me to know all the terms. He then moves to where I see that it isn't one rope, it's two. He uses his hands to turn a somersault in the air before going vertical as if he's standing. While this is happening, black haired boy is slowly going into the splits. The ponytail boy tries again to touch him, but the other moves away. He tries again but the other boy again moves away. This time he moves out of his split and begins to quickly go down, and he almost hits the ground when he stops. His legs are in the air and his head is so close to the ground. Cheers go off and I can't help but clap at it as well. Someone with that type of strength, even if it's under bad circumstances, should be celebrated.

He pretends to be stuck in the position, and the brown haired boy moves down slowly and gracefully. The two red and blue lights mesh together and then a purple light comes and follows them. He goes near the performer and goes to help him, at first he moves away like he did in the air, but lets him get him out if the rope and onto the ground. They stand back to back near a wall, and the considerably shorter guy with black hair walks up it. He kicks off, and the other holds him in balance. 

They smile to the audience and give a little something of a bow I guess given the fact the dude is still upside down and the lights go off. The crowd claps and hollers and I faintly hear the woman next to me say to her friend, "It's a shame the black haired boy got injured recently, he just started performing again. The act would've been longer but they can't afford him to get hurt anymore. His ankle is actually still a little bad, he just really wanted to keep performing."

 The house lights come on, and intermission begins. I open the phone and call Kris. "You see them?"

"They were the act of course I saw them. Meet me near the back entrance." He hangs up and I walk towards the back of the tent. 

"We were wrong," He says when I get there, "Security seems to be quite the priority." On each trailer there was a lock, and on some even barred windows. People with jackets that said security were even walking around. "Well we have to try." 

Luck must've been on our side, because we didn't have to knock on a single door, we saw them about to go into their trailer. "Wait!" Kris and I whisper-shouted. The stopped and me our eyes. They checked to make sure no one was around, and motioned us to them.

We ran over to them and they opened their trailer and we went inside. It was average sized, with a couch and a coffee table, but nothing looked like it had been updated or fixed. The boy with black hair closed the window curtains, while the other looked at us. The first thing I thought now that I got a better look at him, was that he had large ears. Not to make fun of him, just that they were bigger than the average person's. He was also really tall, almost at tall as Kris. His face also looked young, not considerably so though. Maybe he just had a baby face. "This would be a lot less uncomfortable if we weren't still in our costumes." The black haired boy said softly, pulling his gloves down. He went to a different room and the boy who was still here looked at us with a big smile. "How did you find us? I mean, we live in a giant circus but still?"

"We just... found you I guess. It wasn't like we had a map or anything." I said. His smile got impossibly larger. "So it  _is_ fate! Oh- um I'm Park Chanyeol. The other dude is my brother. Well not really he's like a brother. His name is Kim Minseok, before you say it we know; he's pretty short." Kris stifled a laugh and I realized that Minseok is about my height and suddenly felt lightly offended. "So what's your power?" I ask changing the subject away from our heights.

 "Fire," The tip of his index finger catches aflame for emphasis. "Hyung is ice. You know he actually didn't even think you guys were-"

"That's enough hothead. I'll spill my own beans thank you very much." The other, Minseok said coming into the room wearing a simple red t-shirt and blue jeans. He was still wearing his gloves. "Fine then Elsa." Chanyeol said which let to Minseok smacking his shoulder. "Go change." 

"Can't I just burn it since we're never seeing it again?"

"No one here wants to see you naked Yeol, go." He walks back into the other room and Minseok gives a soft sigh. "He's a little talkative but don't mind it all too much. You either get used to it or learn to tune in out."

"What was he saying? What about us?" Kris questioned. "I didn't think you guys would ever come for us. Chanyeol had hope though." He didn't say it bitterly, just like he had believed this would always be his life. "But we're here now." I say. Minseok's eyes go from Kris to me, "And we are both grateful," He nods his head towards me, "But how are you going to get us past the guards? There aren't many if any out while the performance is going though so we may want to wait **.** If we use our powers some passersby is bound to see us." 

"Then we try not to run into them, and if we do have to use our powers, don't get caught." Kris says as Chanyeol comes in wearing a white shirt with a little pocket. "So, a 15 minute wait? That's lovely."

* * *

 

When Minseok was sure the coast was clear, he stood up. "Ready Legolas?"

"I hate you." Minseok snickered and we were going to walk out when Chanyeol stopped. "Wait. Hyung my books." 

"What books?" I ask, Minseok going into the other room and coming out with a backpack. "I know it's hard to tell, but Chanyeol is still in school. Well, the most school we can give him while he's in here." I didn't realize that. I actually thought he was older than me. "Wait, how old are you then?"

"He's 15, I'm 18. I technically graduated. Yeollie, no one can teach you anyway."

"I-I could," I say softly. I don't know why, but when I offer to do something my voice just feels like shutting off. "I'm not a teacher or anything, I haven't even finished school but I could try." 

"We won't have time-"

"I wanna keep learning anyway," There was determination in Chanyeol's voice, "I don't care how bad of a teacher you think you are just get me through these textbooks." I nod to him and Kris looks at the two of us. "Are we done here? Cause we should bounce." We walk out and Chanyeol stops us again. "Hyung." 

Minseok half groans. "What?"

"Shelly."

"We can't bring Shelly. It's not safe for her."

"We have to get her."

"Who is Shelly? I'm sure she can come with us." Kris says. You'd have to be an idiot do not be able to tell he really wants to hurry. "No no. We can't being Shelly because she's a baby elephant. Chanyeol unfortunately cares about her."

"So do you!" He half whispered back. "Listen," Minseok reasoned, "There isn't any way we could get her without putting her in danger." Chanyeol didn't argue back, and in a few seconds we were stopped for a third time, but not by Chanyeol. But by someone in a different trailer. A trailer with barred windows, but large enough to stick hands through was someone calling and making a motion for us to come over. The performers ran over with Kris and I not far behind. 

"Chanyeol, take this. When you find Shelly stick it on her, it'll make her small enough for you to get her." It's a woman's voice, and her hands disappear only to come back with a small object. It looks like an oval with something glowing dark blue brightly in the night on the inside. Chanyeol looks at it with wide eyes and then tries to give it back. "Noona... I can't... this is  _you._ I shouldn't take this."

"Please Chanyeol. Let a little of me live out of this place. You seem to have found you luxion, and mine has long since passed it's time. Let me be remembered to you at least like this and not how I am inside this cage." Minseok looked to the ground. "We thank you Noona. For everything." He said, voice soft.

"You'll always be welcome. You better bow." They both did. "Your new friends too." Me and Kris bowed lowly. "Good, now get out of this place." We stood up and we went along. 

"Her luxion is too far away from her now," Chanyeol said leading us to where they keep the animals. The tips of his ears are on fire, but I think that's mostly for light. "She's getting really sick. She used to teach me in our trailer, then I'd come to hers, and then I'd sit outside since she didn't want us to she her. She could make things but not herself shrink or grow. She told me as tall as a house or as small as a button. I've seen her make things shrink, as some of her acts but she never grew things really." He brought us to some cages, and all were empty but one.

There was a baby elephant inside, presumably Shelly. Chanyeol kneeled down at the front of the cage and held out his free hand. She came running towards him, stumbling and almost tripping on her trunk. "She's about two and a half months old. So far she only really listens to Chanyeol. She doesn't have a mom, probably doesn't even remember her. That's most likely why Chanyeol loves her so much." Minseok said, watching with fondness at the elephant and her friend. "Hey Shelly I don't know how this works but can you turn sideways for me? Oh wait, you don't understand that yet..."

Minseok took off the glove on his right hand and placed a fingertip to the lock. It froze and he opened the door easily. The creak was loud and the four of us cringed at it, and Chanyeol put his ears out. When no one came over and we believed it was okay, Chanyeol stepped into the cage. He gave her a tight hug. He placed the little orb on Shelly's side. It stuck and she gave a small noise before trying to look at herself, spinning in circles before giving up and sucking on her trunk. When nothing happened he sighed. "Let's hope this works." He made a finger gun with his right hand and made a tear streak with his left and said something in a different language. Suddenly, Shelly turned as small as maybe a charger cube. Her tiny trunk blew and she was probably terrified at being this small.

Chanyeol held out his hand and she calmed down a little, and walked onto the palm. He slowly lifted her up and into his shirt pocket. "It's okay girl. You'll be okay. But we also need to change your name. To remember our lovely teacher and occasional mom, I'm changing your name to Sunmi. She used to be able to also use her powers just by thinking, but she could also say the word in backwards English with the hand signs. Let's go, security makes their rounds near here also." The baby elephant peeked out from the shirt pocket before disappearing back in.

Would you like to know how far we made it before we got caught? We made it to the front side of the circus before we got stopped. "Minseok, Chanyeol, where do you think you're going at this time?" We turned around slowly, and Minseok cursed under his breath. "We're leaving Xiang Di, just let us be. We've been good and never tried to do anything before now, please just let us go." Xiang Di was a tall man, maybe even taller than Kris, in his middle ages. He looks exactly like how you'd think an evil runner of a slave circus would look like. I don't know what you're envisioning in your head, but you're completely right. With graying hairs slicked back in the most evil way ever. 

"I can't do that Minseok," He said stepping closer, "You see, you and Yeollie are one of my best acts and I can't let you walk away with them."

"Don't ever call him Yeollie ever again if you want to keep your teeth." 

"Threatening now? It would be a shame if I let it slip to a few Wasps that some of my acts disappeared."

"We'll be long gone shithead." Kris sneered. "I don't want that language around my boys." He pulled out a handgun aimed at Kris. "No!" Chanyeol yelled. "Go back to your trailer, and we can pretend this never happened. Halliyun are what make my acts so special. I won't let them go."

"Myeon, take them and run back to where we were."

"No we're all going." I say, keeping my voice as stable as possible. I look over at Chanyeol and Minseok and see that they look completely terrified. The only one out of us who can keep his compocomposure is Kris, I don't know how he can when a gun is pointed at him. I see Minseok slowly slipping off one of his gloves, but Xiang Di sees him too. He turns his aim to the older. "Don't even think about it." He hisses. Suddenly the gun shrinks and it falls out his hand. "What the..." There's a raspy cough from behind him, and who may be the real Sunmi falls to the ground. Her cheeks are sunken in and she looks so very frail. "You..."

"Minseok now!" Kris yells and Minseok rips his glove off and throws his hand out at Xiang Di. His feet stopped moving as they became encased in ice coming from the hand. Sunmi scooted out of the light and into the shadows. He tries to yell but Minseok freezes his mouth shut. Xiang Di looks at him with wide eyes. "Should've let us walk out." Chanyeol paid them no mind and ran to where Sunmi had hid. I went with him.

She wasn't there, just a piece of paper in her place. Chanyeol was looking at the sight with disbelief and shock. "Noona..." His hands shook. He went to Xiang Di, who was beginning to turn blue. "You killed her! She's gone because of you!" His hands burst into flames and I yelled, "Chanyeol don't!" But it was too late, the fire powered boy aimed for the tent. 

The music from the performance stopped, and people began to panic as people tend to do when things are set on fire. I immediately got water, and started putting out the flames That Chanyeol had started. Minseok completely froze Xiang Di before jumping in front of Chanyeol's fire coming from his hands and counter attacked it with an ice beam of his own. As much water I could put out, it wasn't enough. People were outside and gasping. I heard the wood supporting the tent cracking. I saw Kris above me, mask on, getting people out of there. "Chanyeol you have to stop this please!" Minseok pleaded. "No! He took everything from me! She faded away! They don't care about us hyung, why should I care about them?"

"There are good people in there, good people Yeollie. Christ there are children in there! They don't know any better or the truth. Is this how she'd want you to be remembered as? A monster?" I saw Minseok begin to buckle on his left side. Chanyeol's eyes narrowed, beads of sweat condensing on his forehead. And he lowered his hands. The fire finally stopped coming and so did the ice, but the damage had been done. Chanyeol held Sunmi the Second and ran off to the side. "Minseok, can I have a little help over here?" I yell. I don't have time to worry about Chanyeol, people could still die. Kris landed, breathing heavily. "You can't make water?" 

"No! Let's talk about that after we're done with this shall we? Minseok can you freeze the wood? We can't have it break and fall on people. We need to do this quickly, Wasps will be here in no time." Minseok turned his hands from letting his ice melt that I could control to focusing freezing. "Kris! Lift me up and I can take care of everything else. The fire is almost out on this side and there's not much on the other side since Joonmyeon got on this fast enough." I felt a hand touch my shoulder, and I turned around thinking it was Chanyeol. It wasn't, but it wasn't a Wasp either. It was a woman with blonde hair in a hoodie and sunglasses over her face. At the bottom of her face just below her lips on the right side was a beauty mark.

"Put this on and bring your friends if you want to make it out of this alive." She was holding a black face mask. I didn't take it, how could I trust her? "Proof you won't kill me." 

"Kris Wu! Get down here and come with me if you want to live! You're gonna get smoke in your lungs and die!" She yelled into the sky. He and Minseok came down, and Chanyeol came out of hiding. "No time to explain here, but also I was in his dream." She handed the rest of them masks. 

We ran with the girl in the lead, Minseok limping and Kris helping him keep up, and Chanyeol looking like regretted so much, until we got to a convenience shop. Well that's what we thought it was until we walked through the door.


	10. So now there is a cyborg

The convenient store is a lie. Inside looked like a frickin rebel base from Star Wars. It was amazing. The walls looked like they were made of wood, but in the grains were glowing purple and green. The ceiling was a deep blue sky with two maybe moons. One close and another farther. Near the back were two hallways that seemed to be similar. In the room, there was a table with chairs around it. The table looked like something straight out of a sci-fi movie. Round with buttons and a light blue center. "We're back!" The woman said, taking off her hoodie and sunglasses. She was wearing a black shirt and matching pants. She turned to us. "My name is Chaerin, this is where my luxion lives. I'm the leader. The other three should be coming to the front soon. I'll explain more then. For now sit down. Also; is anyone allergic to cats?" We shook our heads. "Alright, then no one would mind if my cats ate in here? They normally do anyway." 

Chaerin clicked her tongue before going into a separate room, and her "cats" came in. And by cats I mean two full grown tigers. Tigers. (which are technically cats but still, I was expecting house cats like a normal person). The only person not phased (terrified) was Minseok. In fact, Minseok actually went to pet them. At first they growled at him, but after he showed that he wouldn't hurt them, they allowed him to run his hands through their fur. "There used to be tigers at the circus, Chanyeol was too afraid of them. So I'd watch the tamer and learned how he worked with them." Yeah that's cool and all but I'd much rather not give them the even stronger advantage and go near them. They both had collars, one gold and one hot pink. Chanyeol guarded Sunmi from seeing the tigers, but ended up placing her on the table anyway. He then made a barrier with his arms to stop her from wandering off the edge. "Minseok, I'm-"

"I know." He said, not looking up. "Do you believe me?" He didn't answer the question, instead, "How do you know we can trust her Kris? Just because she was in your dream and claims to be Halliyun."

"You're playing with her tigers. And besides, Joonmyeon was in my dreams and he isn't evil." Chaerin came back in the room and her tigers went to the other. "They're just going to eat in there since I can tell you three don't particularly like them. They're my gift, I can communicate and turn into a tiger. Quite confusingly, they think I'm their queen." Another girl came from the back. She had short chin length black hair and round cheeks. She was wearing sweatpants and a blue t- shirt. "I'm Min Ji, nice to meet you. Chae, I thought they'd be older than kids."

"We're not kids." Chanyeol said. "The fact you said that justified my statement- hey! You're hurt." Min Ji said, pointing to Minseok, who moved his ankle out of view. "It'll be fine." I could tell he was lying. "No you won't." I said. "I will."

"No you  _won't,_ " I say firmly. "You're hurt and you know it. Using your powers like that made it worse didn't it." He didn't say anything back. "Go grab Bom." Chaerin says. "She doesn't want to come out."

"She will if you tell her. You don't have to leave." Minzy stretched the left side of her body and whole head. It was a weird thing to see to say the least, and even Kris's eyes changed for a moment. She was back to being fully in the room, she looked at Sunmi. "You have a mini elephant. Was she always mini?"

"She was a normal sized baby until tonight. That reminds me, do you have any fruit? And can it be cut into tiny pieces? Like a banana?" Min Ji nodded and went into what I now believe is a kitchen. "Ugh! Unnie can you tell Blackjack to stop eating so messily? Gizzi never does this!" I hear the sound of a knife hitting a cutting board, but also the sound of footsteps. They were coming from the right hall, and a third girl stays in the shadows. "C-Can whoever is hurt just come here?" 

"He can't walk right. There isn't anything to be scared of, we're like you." Kris says. The girl, maybe Bom, slowly comes out and into the light. She's dressed in a yellow long sleeve with blue jeans and has long black hair. She has black high top converse and the exact pair of blue gloves that Minseok has, but they go up farther. Her mouth is covered by a mask and eyes by sunglasses. So it wouldn't be a wild guess to say she is hiding something. "Nice gloves," She says to Minseok, before picking him up bridal style, "Exam." She says and a table comes from the ground on the left side. "How are you so strong?" She gives a short laugh. "I'm not naturally. I've had some modifications, not willingly though." I didn't understand perfectly, but Minseok seemed to. 

"You know, you're fine. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. We all have our weird things but you don't have to hide. If you don't want to thought, I'm not going to make you do anything. "

"It's better if I do now, or you guys will be wondering all day." She slowly took off her gloves, sighing. Bom's fingers were normal toned, but almost robotic. Her palm however, was silver. It wasn't scary really, just a little shocking. I knew technology was making advances but I didn't know it was this big. "I've had them for a while now. I just miss having my hands." Her fingertips hovered by the bandage and made a holographic image of Minseok's bones and muscles. While Bom was looking at the image, Minseok tugged off his gloves. 

His gloves he set to the side before showing his hands. They were light blue in places and red in others. The fingertips looked almost frozen. They looked painful, and even Bom tried to scan him with her other hand, but he shook his head. "They don't hurt. From the first time I used my powers strongly they became like this, the blue spread tonight. I don't think anything is going to happen to them. But every time I use them they get stronger. I'd rather have my normal hands though. I'm afraid of what would happen if they froze or something completely." 

"You and me both. On the normal hands thing, if something did happen to your hands I'd be sad and try to fix it, but they're good for some things. Like knowing that you have a torn ligament and a broken ankle. I'm surprised you could even walk much less perform-"

" I can just freeze it that normally helps."

"-It would be roughly eight weeks to heal but with what you guys will be doing probably longer. Luckily, you've got me. But still, don't overdo it. I can reduce it to only three weeks."

"How?" Kris said, visibly interested. "Halliyun magic. Or more specifically; Rinsai." 

"I've heard of that! It's what our powers come from." Minseok looked at him, "How do you know that?"

"Because I listened to Sunmi Noona instead of playing with tigers." Chaerin stopped, Min Ji looked up from Sunmi the Second, and Bom turned to Chanyeol. "You know Sunmi?"

"K-Knew. She faded earlier tonight." The girls looked down in sadness. Then Chaerin straightened up, "Even more of a reason to get started, we have to make her proud." At that moment, the window on my right opened. 

A girl threw in two bags before climbing through the window. It took me a moment, but I realized they were  _our_ bags. "How many times have we told you to use the front door?" She had light brown hair and was wearing a bright pink sweater with yellow pants.

"You really should stop doing that, I'm not going to listen anyway." She looked up and she gasped. "Chanyeol? Do you not recognize me?" Chanyeol looked at her for a moment, and then it clicked behind his eyes. "Dara Noona?" He went and hugged her. It was a little awkward, but not also not really. Like when two people who have met before but either have only met twice or haven't seen each other in a long time. "I thought you died!"

"I thought I died too! And you've gotten so tall, like it honestly isn't fair. How in the world did you even get this tall in 10 years yet I haven't grown since I was 16? And look at your hair! Gia would kill you if she saw how long it is." 

"Wait wait," Kris said shaking his head, "You know each other?"

"We're cousins!" They say at the same time. "You mean you knew where he was all this time?" Chaerin asks. "No, I had to sever my connection with him on that day."

"What day?"

"He knows what I mean. Anyway," Dara gave us a smile, "It's a pleasure to meet you..."

"I'm Joonmyeon, I'm the leader-"

"I'm Kris, also leader and that's Minseok." Dara smiled even brighter, crazy grins seemed to run in this family. "Good! I mean I knew the prophecy would lead me in the right direction and bring you here but I still sometimes worry."

"What prophecy?" She turned to Min Ji, "I thought you explained this to them?"

"No, you specifically said not to explain anything until you get here."

"Will your explaining also explain how you stole our stuff?" I say. "Of course. Bom, movie time!" Dara says. Bom helps Minseok back to the table and into a chair. "Dim." She commands and the lights are turned low. Her hand changes from a picture of Minseok's leg to a picture of the stars, she places it onto the table and it expands. "Halliyun is far away. A planet that isn't in this solar system, or the next. It was a beautiful planet; with similarities to Earth strong everywhere." The image zoomed in on a planet. The planet was pink and green from what looks like grass. It had two moons just like on the roof of their safehouse. The water was clear and light red. It looked beautiful. "There were many species on Halliyun, not just originals. It was a good planet, with democracy and peace for thousands upon thousands of years. But there will always be people no matter what, who will disagree with peace. They weren't outsiders who wanted the planet for themselves, but the Halliyun that were born without powers."

"That's possible?" Chanyeol questioned. Dara nodded, holding my book. "Hey! That's min-"

"Hush. Technically it's mine you're just the person who ended up with it," She placed it on the table and the picture changed to groups of people. Holding up signs and yelling at a building, "They were angered by the fact the council was only powered Halliyun. The reason for that was that there were barely any non powered. .1% of Halliyun and we treated them with the same kindness as we did everyone. Yet the protests became riots, and they only got worse. We found out that our planet was dying. Halliyun kept itself sustained by people who loved it. It literally survived off of happiness. And with more riots led to more fear. When they found out the planet was dying everything managed to go even lower. The council was busy trying to keep everyone calm and explain the situation, and it began to just keep dying and that's when real fights began. The planet was going to implode, and we began to take ships and leave. Most rioters were left on the planet when it imploded, but a few ended up on one We were on one of the ships. Chaerin and Min Ji were about your age, teens. We had to find a place that would sustain us the way Halliyun did. And the only place similar enough was Earth." 

Dara waved her hand and the picture disappeared. "One day I had a vision that the rioters, the ones that led to the destruction of Halliyun and forced us to come to Earth, would return instead of them all perishing on our home. But I know now that they never left us. The Wasps are them."

"A Wasp I met, was only my age. If Chaerin and Min Ji were teens when Halliyun imploded, how can there be rioters when that Wasp probably was just born?" 

"Some Wasps don't- actually most Wasps- don't have a clue to what they're really doing. They believe the lies since that's all they've known. The ones at the top are the ones that really control what happens." Chaerin says. "Which is why we need you," Min Ji says, holding a book similar to mine but with a pink cover and possibly different inscriptions. "Do you know what these are?" We all shook our heads. "They're called Gasas, mystic books that hold a key part in Halliyun. This one specifically is called the Herum Gasa it holds prophecies and in it will determine not only the fate of our kind but Earth's as well. Yours is called the Triad Gasa,  and holds the history and inner workings of Halliyun as a species."

" _These_ are the Gasas?" Kris asked. "So you have heard of them?"

"I was supposed to find them and piece them together. Make some sort of symbol." Dara grinned, "I love him, he knows what's up. In the back of each Gasa is the piece of a symbol. They symbol is invisible to everyone until it is fully made. But it's more than a symbol, it's also a key."

"Key to what?" Chanyeol asked. "A key to saving us all. What it is, I don't know, but you all are a part of it. Now let me read the prophecy." Dara opened her Gasa, and her eyes turned orange.

_"In a world alike our but in few parallels, the world and life we once knew we know has fell._

_The yellow and black will blaze the sky, and 12 will come and nine will try._

_Three shall find themselves broken from the first path, the second to be very different from the last._

_A new world shall open up, and the parallels will combine for a window of time when the 12 shall reunite on one line._

_The Exodus shall be reborn."_

Dara's eyes turned back and she looked up. "It changed. The last line was never here. We've all heard and read this over and over again. I'd know if something was different." Suddenly her eyes went pink, and she opened her mouth again. Min Ji stretched and grabbed a paper and pen. "What's she doing?"

"Pink is new prophecy, new prophecy means she may have amnesia though. Shh." 

_"A boy from a lineage of leaders_

_A boy born from betrayal_

_A boy who is burning blue_

_A boy never has to touch anything_

_A boy who won't die_

_A boy almost dead_

_A boy with contradictions_

_A boy who loves_

_A boy who is stronger than all_

_A boy that can go everywhere_

_A boy that knows when time is up_

_A boy who has no home"_

This time, Dara almost fell to the ground. Chaerin caught her. "Sandara Park. Do you know where you are? Do you know who you're with?"

"Yes but," She stood up and steadied herself, before deciding to simply sit down, "I thought Ssaed or as he was known here- Ryeyoung- died 15 years ago." I stopped breathing as she looked at me.

Ryeyoung was my father's name. 

I looked at Dara, who was suffering from amnesia more than she thought. "That can't be possible, Ryeyoung never shapeshifted other than that one day."

"Yet this boy who you claim is not Ryeyoung has almost every feature. Except Ryeyoung didn't have such blue eyes." Her voice is soft and full of wonder, as if she's never seen me before (which she technically hadn't to herself). "Well what is your name?"

"My name is Kim Joonmyeon, Ryeyoung was my father. He could shapeshift?" 

"All Halliyun can conform to whatever race they live amongst. How else do you think Dara managed to take your stuff and check you out of the hotel? Ryeyoung had a son?" Min Ji said incredulously. I nodded. "Why is this a shock?"

"It's not really, we all knew he'd end up with that human girl he seemed to like. It's just that we know you're the first boy the second prophecy was talking about. You're father was a leader, his Luxion's leader. If my hunch is right and the last sentence of the first one, you are the new Exodus."

"You guys need to work on your explaining, what's an Exodus?" Minseok asked. "That's the name of the Luxion Joonmyeon father was in. Our Luxion is named 2ne1, yet the name of your Luxion won't be revealed to me for some reason. They were strong on Halliyun, and kept our city safe. Just before we left Halliyun, Dara gave Ryeyoung a Gasa, so that if rioters get her, they will not have two pieces of the key. I always knew it would make it back to me though. Most of them perished, but it only makes sense that you are their reincarnation. We've already found four of you-"

"Woah woah wait!" I say, the weird information I've learned in the past 10 to 15 minutes finally finished going through my short circuited brain. "Look, I signed up for finding them no matter how many I needed to find. I didn't sign up for fighting or some prophecy, how can you guys be so ready for this without question? Hello, we might die!"

"Because most of us weren't born with silver spoons stuck in our mouths. I can tell by the money in your bag that you got the shinier one. We were born with our mouths open and never getting what we needed, now we're needed and that's all that matters. We don't have a comfortable life to go back to. " Chanyeol said. His voice was still quiet but felt loud in the room, "We didn't run away from who we were," Kris said, looking at me with sharper than usual stares, "We knew that this part of us wasn't just something to forget about. We know we might die, but that can't matter right now. That's cowardly."

"It's not cowardly for wanting to live!"

"No," Minseok says dangerously frigid, "But it is cowardly to promise you'll find all of us and run away the moment you get more than what you thought you'd end up with. Life isn't a cookie cutter. You just have to deal with it. You're one of our leaders and we're with you till the end, but are you with us?" I looked at them. Me, and idiot of 17 years with four full aliens, two ex circus performers, a very misleading Canadian (who is technically from China but still), and a recently shrunken elephant. I knew that I was terrified, and I really wanted to just go home and see my mom again, but I couldn't. Minseok was right, I had to deal with this.

"I'm with you guys. If I say anything otherwise you can hit me." Chanyeol let's out a celebratory hollar and high fives Dara, Minseok smiles and pinches out Chanyeol's ears which had caught aflame while the other girls begin talking happily, probably about how to keep us from dying in five days after leaving their sight. I see Kris leaning against the wall; we make eye contact and he gives me a short nod,  _good job._

* * *

 

After we calmed down and ate celebratory ramen, (but not Bom, she didn't eat and still wouldn't take off her mask. It wasn't that big of a deal though) almost everyone had went to bed. Well, all but me. I was in a sitting room with one of their weird Halliyun technology things Bom made. It was a window, but instead of showing a view of the outside, it showed what Halliyun used to look like. The planet had beautiful hills and things that looked like giant butterflies outside. Bom said that it just covers what is really happening outside and makes it look like their home planet, so that would explain the current lack of their actual species being seen out the window. It was like negative 0 in the morning, and I was still awake. Reason: I'm still not over the fact I might die. It's not that I don't want to go and put a stop to Wasps once and for all because that's a dream come true, but that I'm not this type of person. I'm not a born fighter like Kris, I barely know the first thing about Halliyun in general. He was right, I had been running away from who I was. 

"Hey." I turn around, Kris is in his room's door frame. "Hey."

"Bom told me you were still awake, she was going to come over but decided against it. What's up?"

"How did you get to her, I didn't hear your door open." He rolled his eyes, but after seeing so many of them I could tell when he meant it or was just doing it. "You'd know that there are two doors if you- you know- actually went to your room and slept. Why are you still up?" If I'm going to be completely honest, I did not want to talk to Kris at this moment. I was still a tad bitter about the short thing he said to me today. Apparently my bitterness was so strong it filtered into the actual air because Kris said something like 3 seconds after I thought it. "Listen, about what I said earlier. I should've picked a word other than that, you're not cowardly Myeon."

"Don't call me that, and is it so hard to simply say I'm sorry?"

"To apologize shows weakness." I rolled my eyes for real. "Of course you would say that. You're not worried about anyone or anything and are so brave and believe in Halliyun. You'd face this alone-"

"I'm scared too Joonmyeon!" Kris looked at me, his eyes were softer than I've seen them. And he normally looks like he wants to fight everyone, but now he looked human. So maybe his gaze isn't naturally as cold as Minseok's ice. "I'm so scared right now. If I had a choice I'd go back home to my mom and never leave, but I can't. Fate is fate and you have to live with it. I can't afford to feel scared right now, because I know I'm a leader and Minseok and Chanyeol are probably terrified. They just ran away from the only place they knew,lost their only family, and found out they are a part of something even bigger than themselves in one night. And Minseok just had a gun pointed at himself. They need to have someone they can look to, and believe maybe for even a second that they can do this. They don't have anyone to think of in bad situations like we do, or anyone to come back to." 

"My dad was a warrior apparently, and 2ne1 expect me to be like him. I'm not strong like that." Kris sighed, "None of us expect you to be like your father, we want you to  _try_. That's all any of us can do, but you acted like you didn't even want to do that much. I'm not getting mad at you because you got scared, everyone in here is scared. I'm mad because you won't even try. You're strong, I haven't seen you fight or anything yet but you put out practically a whole fire on your own. Do you know how hard that is? And on the same day you had a moment at the store? You did good." This entire trip has been in the eternal mood of I Won't Be Able To Do This, but that's the closest I'll get to a real compliment from the Canadian, so I'd take it. "So why are you awake?"

"Can't sleep, also I'd prefer to hold off my dreams as long as possible."

"That's a dumb excuse."

"It's a perfect excuse."

"Yet you told me to go to sleep." 

"Then we'll both go to sleep." It wasn't an argument, we just didn't want to go to sleep. "If you sleep I'll sleep okay?" I nod, and we both go to our respective rooms. I stay up a little longer though, and I'm pretty sure so does Kris. I can't help it, when I get too worried I stay awake. I don't want to go to sleep, but I made a deal. Sleeping was necessary, I got into bed. And maybe I went to sleep faster than I thought I would. Best part? Not a single dream


	11. Metal detectors are problematic (Wings)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plot twist: They detect more than metal

Wow I hate dreaming, and people wonder why I don't go to sleep. 

Listen, it's not like I don't sleep for days at a time (often), it's just that there's a 86% chance I'm going to have a vision or dream. Like on Monday when Joonmyeon and I were both up way later than we should've been. 

Oh. This is Kris. Anyway, as I was saying.

I was as I told him avoiding my dreams, but he was wallowing in fear and self-pity. That isn't how it works. You aren't supposed to let things like that overcome your goal. It didn't even bother me that he was scared, I was mad since he was willing to abandon us. I mean, he didn't have to fly all the way across the ocean. He just had to take a bus and walk. And he has no right to be bitter at me, in fact I should be bitter at him. And who is he to judge my thoughts on crying, I can do what I want. At least my heart is in the right place.

So now let's talk about my grade A dream I had

_I was in a room on my own, with two paths. One path was grey with the symbol of Joonmyeon's pendant on the floor. The other was not mine, but a different engraved dragon. I didn't know which to pick, but under the dragon a second symbol formed. It had three open circles on the top and bottom, and a large open one in the center. It also had two smaller closed circles with tails on either side of giant open circle. I was still standing when a wispy voice said "Choose your path." It sounded like a man, like from badly made old karate movies. It was odd, but I felt drawn to the dragon. I looked back at Joonmyeon's symbol before stepping on the dragon path. Suddenly, the other symbol's six open circles got connected by lines and turned red with yellow stars. "Find the true path."_

And then I woke up, as usual in a cold sweat. My heart was pounding, but not because I may have just chosen the wrong path (I don't think I did), but because I know where we're going next. 

 

"Ah, so you've finally decided to wake up!" Dara said when I walked into the main room. Her, Chaerin, Min Ji, Joonmyeon, and Chanyeol were still at the table. I'm a heavy sleeper, and when I get the chance I sleep for a long time. I gave a wave of acknowledgement before going to the kitchen and pulling out some cereal. "Kris it's like noon." Chanyeol commented. "So?" I poured the milk and tossed in a spoon. "Eat cereal whenever." He smiled and turned to Chaerin. "No. Ramen still does not count as breakfast." His smile deflated. "You're no fun." Dara said. "This is why you could only babysit him once. Anyway boys. Any dreams? Any  _meaningful_ dreams? It's been two days." I personally didn't want to share my dream, because where we had to go I didn't want to go. "Actually, I saw a symbol and some other stuff. Can I have some paper?" Joonmyeon asked Min Ji (without leaving the table) grabbed some paper and a pen. "Okay. So after I saw this symbol that I'm about to draw, I saw this maze with 12 symbols on them. Four of them were ours. I think those are  _our_ symbols. Like our Luxion's."

"That would make sense. Certain Luxions get symbols, signs or sigils that mark their importance. For example, our Luxion has special colors related to each of us. As the leader of 2ne1 I'm gold, Dara is orange, Min Ji is purple, and Bommy is green."

"What was your importance?" I asked. Dara quirked an eyebrow. "We were no we are a strong Luxion. We protected all Halliyun from anything from major attacks on our planet to other worldly things. We were some of the strongest females on that stinkin planet! And now... forced to hide away. Anything else in your dream?" She slouched in her chair, still visibly upset that they couldn't save their homeworld. "Well, I saw a cave. I placed my hands on the wall and when I touched it a voice said "The key" and I'm pretty sure it meant the Gasa key thingy. Then I saw them, all three of them, but then one disappeared. It was blue for the most part. And then the voice came back and said "Unlock the third part with 12." And I woke up." 

"So you guys are the key to unlocking the key." Min Ji stated. "Woah. Keyception," Chanyeol said, "What about the symbol you were drawing?" 

"Here." Joonmyeon turned it towards us. I groaned internally. It was the same symbol I saw under the dragon, now I have to tell them my dream. "I saw that symbol too." I proceeded to tell them everything in my dream save for the dragon and the paths being separated. I didn't feel like hearing Joonmyeon get butthurt about me not choosing his path. "So the same symbol but red and yellow stars on the ground. Where does that lead us?"

"China." I said grimly. "Well thank god it's not like you all have to take flights around the world! You guys could book a flight today!" Dara exclaimed. Suddenly I stood up, grabbed some paper and the pen, and walked outside to where Minseok and the tigers were. He was about to say something, took a look at me, and turned back to the big cats. 

I started writing to my mom, that I'd found three members and how I needed to go back to China. I wrote so much and I don't even remember half of it, I think I started to ramble. Then I realized I left my lighter in my room. I was going to go back in and grab it but Chanyeol and Chaerin were coming out. "You good?" She asked me. I shook my head. "Chanyeol, can you burn this please?" I handed him the letter. "Why do you want me to-"

"You burn something with my mom's name on it she receives it. It's how I send her letters now please burn it." He held it and let it catch a flame from his pinky. It burned and fizzed, the embers turning purple meaning she would get the letter. Did it make me feel better? Yes. Did it make me perfectly alright? Absolutely not. "Yeol, can you give us a minute?" He nodded and walked back into the safehouse with Minseok. 

I knew what she was going to do. She was going to talk to me and try to get me to tell her why I walked out of the room. "Can we talk, leader to leader?" If I was going to talk to someone, could it be Dara? We talked yesterday night. (She was the other reason I was awake very late. I had some things to understand.) "When Dara and I entered into Joonmyeon's and your dreams respectively, we were open to memories the two of you either repress or hide. She knows about Joonmyeon's and I know about yours."

"In that case you probably know why I don't want to go, so why are we having this discussion?" 

"Because you still need to go."

"I never said I wasn't going. I'm not like Joonmyeon-"

"Don't talk about your member like that."

"I didn't want him as a member. We don't get along like you and the rest of your Luxion." Chaerin looked toward the house, "Oh no, it was not all sunshine and rainbows. Min Ji and I hated each other's guts for months. Then we realized we can't get rid of each other so we might as well learn to be nice. So you two man up and play nice. You're both leaders and are about to have a total of 10 boys under you. I will put the both of you in a get along shirt."

"I'd rather die." 

"Then get it together and stop staring at the sky like your in a goddamn drama." Huh, for someone who has to look up at me, she is terrifying. We went back in and Dara handed me a piece of paper. It had the second prophecy on it, the one about our Luxion. But beside the words "A boy from a lineage of leaders, A boy born from betrayal, A boy who is burning blue, and A boy who loves" all had a symbol beside them. They were our power symbols. "You guys have pendants?" I call, looking at the brothers. "Yeah," Minseok responds, "We just don't wear them. They're in the bottom of the bag since Yeol didn't want me to leave them."

"When did you get yours"

"I just have always had mine. I think my mom gave it to me." Chanyeol didn't say anything so I asked again. "I don't wanna talk about it." He says, and I leave it be. He doesn't have to talk about it if he doesn't want to. That would be hypocritical of me since I don't talk about anything. "Dara Noona says we're going to China in a little." Joonmyeon nods at Minseok. "Can I see the paper?" Joonmyeon asks. "No." I say, folding it and putting it into my pocket. I didn't want them to see it, this time for their own good. My voice was sharp, even I heard it, and they backed off. "Okay then, let's get packed. First flight to...?"

"Beijing." I say. "How do you know?" 

"Gut feeling on this one."

* * *

 

When we packed up, and Chanyeol put Sunmi into a safe little box Bom had made for her. It was impressive, looked like just a book with food inside it and enough room to breathe. On top of that, she made us all passports with fake names at that. Bom is a mechanical goddess. "For you Joonmyeon, to protect your eyes. I heard they're checking everything now." She gave him a pair of glasses, and when he put them on, his eyes went from ocean blue to deep brown.

 Min Ji smiled at us when we were about to leave to journey to the airport. "You all look absolutely not ready."

"That may be because we aren't." Minseok chimed. "Well no one is ever ready, but you can be prepared." 

"What if we're not that either?"

"Wing it. That's what we do." 

"No it isn't." Chaerin said. "Yes it is." Bom and Dara replied. Chaerin watched us give our small goodbyes, and then gave me a look that said  _Screw this up and I'll kill you._ It wasn't comforting. 

"This is simply perfect timing really," Dara said, "At this moment in time, the Wasps have no description for you four and currently believe you're on your way to Japan. Why is that you may ask. Well you will have to thank our lord and savior Park Bom." She still wore her mask, but Bom's eyes smiled when Dara said that. She has taken off the sunglasses she wore the first time we met her, and has a black scar down her left eye and a pink piece of metal embedded into her near her right eye. We know not to ask, so we don't. "You all will do just fine." She says warmly. We walk out when Dara calls out. "For every boy you find, you'll see their power symbol by the line of the prophecy! Oh! And your Luxion name is pretty cool too, just like a reincarnation, Exo."

* * *

 

The airport, as most airports, was crowded. We got through the entrance and tickets quite well, and were waiting in line for bags and metal detectors. I haven't spent my life in many airports, and I don't like them at all. Well no, I like airports, just not airplanes. 

 We get through to the part where apparently we take off our shoes for some reason and step through the detectors. Chanyeol goes first in the metal, then checking on the Halliyun detector and isn't picked up. I go next, and it runs smoothly. "They can't recognize half borns. Not enough juice in the system for them to get us." He whispers to me as Joonmyeon goes through also. He looks so nervous it's depressing. He'd give us away if his now brown eyes didn't look to the ground the entire time. "Your gloves sir." We look up and see Minseok stopped by the guard, she looks at him expectantly. "M-My what?"

"Your gloves. You will have to take them off to go through the detectors." 

"Ah um-" Suddenly, a gasp, and it feels warmer behind me. I turn back and see the trashcan ahead of us beginning to burn. "It was an alien," Chanyeol shouted, "He was wearing an orange hoodie and was aiming for me for some reason! Please go catch him." While his brother was doing a wonderful job at being a distraction, Minseok was able to sneak past both detectors safely. When people panic, it is a priority to get them to stop because one person can lead to many. Chanyeol was very good at pretending to panic. It was a far fetched plan, and incredibly stupid. We grabbed our things and put back on our shoes. "That was close." Chanyeol breathed. "Yeah. We were lucky you on fire trashcan didn't fuck us up." 

"Kris!" Joonmyeon looked at me. "What? Do you know how much worse that could've been? They could have found out it was Chanyeol."

"But they didn't~" The fire boy sing-songed. Minseok flicked his temple. "Don't do something that reckless again."

"Aw hyu-"

"But thank you. We would've been worse off if you hadn't." Chanyeol smiled and looked at me. "Kid, just don't blow up anything without prior notice and we're good. You can think pretty fast." 

"Don't call me kid! You're not that much older than me!" 

"Duly noted." We walked to the gate and set our stuff down. "We've got like half an hour before we need to be boarding, we can get something to eat." Minseok offered. "Hyung, we have no money whatsoever." Chanyeol said. "I have money." Joonmyeon and I said at the same time. "He has more money." I rephrase. Joonmyeon gives a breath through his nose then smiles. (Why am I explaining, you do this all the time when you say lmao.) It's like closed mouth laughing. "What do you guys want?" 

" Chicken ramen." The past performers say at the same time. Joonmyeon looks to me. "Not hungry. I'll eat one of the plane snacks or something." He nodded and went to get the food. "I need to go to the bathroom." Chanyeol said before heading in the direction. It's just me and Minseok. I notice him watching Chanyeol with worried eyes. "What's wrong?"

"I- What?"

"What are you worried for?" 

"Him. Chanyeol is brash, hotheaded, and thinks quick. Which isn't bad, but he rarely thinks things through. I'm worried something else will catch of fire." I can tell that Minseok is actually  _afraid_ of Chanyeol. Not that he is scared that he may get killed because of Yeol, but because he may get himself into some deep problems. So perhaps in reality he is afraid for Chanyeol. "Minseok, you know he is fine. He just went off a little at the circus."

"What if he goes off again? He can be pushed to a limit, and that's already happened so who's to say something small won't set him off?" 

"He regrets what he did. Chanyeol is a good kid, you of all people should know that." 

"I do. And good kids make decisions when they're scared. And he is scared," They must be really close is Minseok is worried just from the youngest leaving his sight. "He used to get in fights hyung-" He looked up at me.  "Sorry. I'm older. I guess I just forgot, since you are the leader and all. You look older too."

"You can- you can call me hyung if you want." 

"Well he used to get in fights with other Halliyun and half borns around the circus or the one year he ever went to school. He had no friends but a few half born bullies and would just explode sometimes. He's better now, it takes a lot to make him that mad. But the shit he's seen and the people he has had to deal with his whole life. I mean, it would make me go crazy too." He stops when he sees Chanyeol come back. "I didn't know airport bathroom lines were so long. I was in there for ages."

"That's because you've never been in an airport." Minseok returns. Joonmyeon hands the two their ramen, and gives me a cup of coffee. "I know you said you didn't want anything, but you seem like a coffee person." I took a sip, it was sweet but not too sweet. "You're right." 

"Hey Kris?" Chanyeol asked, "How come some parts of the Gasa are in Hain, but others are in Korean?" I didn't think of that, nor did I ask. "I don't know. That's a Dara question. We can call and ask after we land, boarding starts in a sec and I don't want eavesdropping." He nodded and we waited for our letter to be announced.

 

On the plane Minseok and Chanyeol sat together, and me and Joonmyeon sat across from them. Soon the plane was getting ready for takeoff, and I looked at Minseok who also had an aisle seat. "Have you been in a plane before?" He nods. "You and Yeollie are the only ones who haven't been." I wonder how one of them has gone on a plane yet the other hasn't. I sit back, not daring to even take a look out of our window. "Can you close that?" I ask Joonmyeon. I could tell again my voice was harsh, but this time I didn't mean it. "Can you close the window please?" I say, this time watching my tone. He gives me a concerned look, I can't stand it. People worrying about me. "I'm fine."

"I didn't ask, which proves that you are not fine." He gave me the  _I'm not letting this go until you tell me what's wrong_ look and I realized I wasn't getting out of this. "As you know flying is my forte," I tell him quietly, "But only when I am in control. I can't stop this from falling out of the sky. I won't be able to do anything to stop it." He doesn't say anything, just nods. "A plane crash is one in 11 million."

"We could be that one."

"A plane can make a safe landing without any of its engines working."

"That's a lie."

"Look it up." I do, and he is telling the truth. It reassures me a little, at least enough to feel okay as the plane begins its takeoff. Joonmyeon closes the window. When we are safely in the air, he talks again. "Kris um- I know you don't like me or this double leader situation we're in and that I'm practically incompetent compared to you but we have to find a way for this to work. We can't fight in front of them." 

"You're not incompetent Joonmyeon, stop saying those things about yourself. You know less about this world than I do and we can't do anything about that anymore than the next person. You're right that I don't like the double leader thing because it makes no sense at all. I don't understand that in any way, there have never been more than one leader ever. You're wrong though, about me not liking you."

"Then why do you look at me like you don't want me here? You've looked at me like that for the past two days." 

"Because  _you_ were about to ditch  _us._  I didn't want to be around someone who was going to run away the moment it got scary." I saw that what I said struck a chord in him. "I'm not a warrior Kris, I told you that."

"This Luxion doesn't need warriors. We just need some support and our second leader also they need you here. They like you more than me, I think they're a little afraid of me," I couldn't afford him getting all scared and nervous this high up, that will make me nervous. He also has a bad habit of messing with water subconsciously when he is. I can see the water in a cup on his tray becoming open circles. "Work on that." I say. Joonmyeon follows my gaze and sets the liquid back into the cup. "So you do want me around?"

"You gonna help us even if the world feels like it's ending? Or you have to do something you never thought you'd do?" I know I just said I didn't want him being scared, but I don't want him to think this will be easy even more. In a time of crisis, I don't want him to make the same mistake I did; hesitate. "I will help. Like you said, this is bigger than us now. But don't expect me to be able to stop a giant wave or anything."

"You can do that?" I say slightly in awe. I mean; big wave with just one person standing in between it and a bunch of people? That's cool. "Absolutely not. I'm not that strong." 

"I'm sure you'll get there." He gave a half smile, and dozed off. I fished the paper with our prophecy on it out of my pocket. Next to 'A boy burning blue' was a black diamond with the lines crossing over each other on the four corners. On the four sides were arrows pointing into the center. It was pretty obvious from the line itself that that was definitely Minseok. I remembered how he showed Bom his hands, he looked almost as scared as she did when he took off those gloves. It was probably the last time we'd ever see them. I could relate, but if anyone sees mine I could die if it isn't the right person. 

Chanyeol's line, 'A boy who loves' was interesting. I understood that yeah this kid obviously cares and knows where his heart is, but loves someone or something so much it is going to possibly help us stop this Wasp thing? Then again, he burned down a circus tent two days ago. His symbol looked like a bird flying to the right with dashes going behind it. It reminded me of a Phoenix; something that rises from the ashes. 

I didn't want to think too hard on all of this without backup from the other three so I tried my absolute hardest to not think of worst case scenarios about this plane. It did not at all work.


	12. Parent issues volume one (Wings)

Jesus christ it's been a long time since I've been in China. We've successfully made it out of the airport. Specifically in Beijing we were in the Tongzhou district. Beijing city would've been simpler, pulls are easiest to decipher direction wise in the very center of a city or country, but I'd not take the chance of seeing Wasps. Central Beijing Wasps are almost as bad as Seoul Wasps, and that wasn't ideal. 

Minseok had a map, looking like a true tourist. He and Chanyeol's bags on his back because Chanyeol was petting a dog.  **"Excuse me, my Chinese reading isn't the best would you mind telling me how to get to Haidian?"** Minseok asked the owner of the dog. She was a girl about his age, if she was older not by much. She has blonde hair like mine, which instinctively makes me run my fingers through my freshly redyed (courtesy of Min Ji) hair. She was wearing a striped shirt under burgundy overalls. She looked pretty cute if I did say so myself. Which I did.  **"Of course! Haidian is over here,"** She pointed to a spot on the map,  **"And the quickest way other than taxi is like unfortunately two hours by bus. Let me write down which rail to take."** She quickly scribbled down something and handed it into Minseok's gloved hand.  **"Thank you..."**

**"Lairen."**

**"Thank you Lairen."** She smiled and walked off with Chanyeol waving to the dog. "You speak Chinese?" I said. "No, we were speaking Thai." Minseok deadpanned. He ripped off the bottom half of the paper and rolled it into a ball. "Xiang Di taught me Mandarin, I guess it was the only good thing about him. Would you mind?" He gave the ball to Chanyeol who lit it up with his pinkie. "Before you both freak, it looks like cigarette smoke. You have a higher chance of actually seeing a smoker that catching us do this." 

"What did you just turn to ash?" Joonmyeon asked. "She wrote her number on the paper, I did not want it. Chanyeol didn't want it or he would've kept it. That being said he can't speak Chinese anyway. He never wanted to learn. Bet 'cha regret it now huh Legolas?" I'm lightly offended that he didn't ask me if I wanted her number. Now if your wondering why I didn't say "and Joonmyeon" well that's because Joonmyeon doesn't look like he's looking at girls if you catch where this is going. 

 **"How did you know we needed to go to Haidian?"** I asked Minseok while we waited for the rail, which was coming in about 5 minutes.  **"I had two small visions when I went to sleep on the plane. I was in this room and suddenly the walls moved back and the characters for 'Haidian' were shown and a voice said it too."**

**"And the other?"**

**"This one scared me a little. Which is why I really only want you to know about it. I saw you and Chanyeol on like two different sides of the world or something. You had a dragon behind you but it could like... breathe fire I guess? And then Chanyeol for a moment literally caught on fire until it left him turned into some type of bird. Then your dragon probably killed it because it then became ash. And then it rose up again but it was red this time. Then the ground below me split open and I fell in and woke up."**

"Ahem some of us aren't as cool as you guys and can speak Chinese so Korean will do just fine." Chanyeol said. "The rail is here and our conversation was like you: irrelevant." I said with no real force behind it. Joonmyeon laughed as Chanyeol turned to Minseok. "You're going to let him talk to me like that?"

"Yes."

"But you're older!"

"He is the leader part one." The fire boy put a hand over his heart and slumped dramatically in his seat. "I can't believe it, my own brother turned against me for a person we met two days ago." I rolled my eyes. Joonmyeon is to my right with Chanyeol next to him, claiming that he is the only one that cares for him. Joonmyeon had just ruffled his hair. 

 **"I'm scared Kris,"** I look to Minseok, who is looking at his gloves.  **"What if I'm wrong?"**

 **" _If_** **you're wrong we will just follow the pull, but you're like us and we're rarely wrong with things like this."** Minseok nodded. He was strong, very powerful, but very nervous. If he and Chanyeol switched output personalities he would be pretty op. I understand where he is coming from; believe it or not I was not always this used to everything. Sometimes I wish I could be just as lost as the rest of them.

 

* * *

 

Like an hour later and multiple, multiple pages of that book Chanyeol insisted on bringing. However, I think he's the only kid actually into doing math. From Joonmyeon's expression he must've been good at it. We finally got off that train. I had the temporary thought of 'what am I going to do with Joonmyeon now that he knows about me and planes?' I mean, that was a carefully guarded secret that only my mother knew about. Mainly because I had only been on one plane before this. Anyway, I can't just tell him  _"If you tell anyone I'll break your leg"_ cause that's insensitive and I'm not that bad. 

Before I could even think of something else, a voice pierced through my head.  _"H-Help me. Haidian."_ I whipped my head around to look for who might have said that, but no one was looking at me but my Luxion. "Hyung? Oh sorry." Chanyeol said before looking down. "Aigo. Okay, no one has to apologize for calling me hyung or gege or absolutely any of those types of words. But Yeol, yes?"

"I heard something. He called out the city name-" The four of us probably all felt the same strong tug in our chest. It wasn't like when I felt Joonmyeon, or the brothers. This one, this one actually  _hurt._

We knew Minseok had put us on the right path. We were walking for a while when sunset began to become darker, "Hotel, we should check in. Who knows if this boy even has a place for us to stay." Joonmyeon says. We nod in agreement, and wait for him to pick one. "Bold of all of you to assume I know any Chinese." He said after asking Minseok which one was a hotel. "Hyung and I now make the 'one language' line." Chanyeol leaned on the water boy's shoulder. Which was hard seeing as Chanyeol is 181 centimeters and Joonmyeon is like 173 or Chanyeol is 5'11 and Joonmyeon is 5'8 for you Americans. 

We checked in, but only really booked a room (Minseok did that) and found out where the food was (also Minseok) before continuing our long and only on foot now journey. It isn't worth missing something to drive at this point in looking for your Luxion. We were walking for a while, and everything seemed to be getting quieter but not the good quiet of the night. A man was walking in the direction we were headed, he stopped and looked at us.  **"You're not from around here huh?"**

 **"South Korea,"** I responded,  **"Why?"**

**"It isn't Halloween. You shouldn't be headed towards that way."**

**"Again, why?"**

**"You're on the path to the Cursed House. We thought about calling Wasps, but someone was about to and we never saw them again. We don't think it's an alien this time."** Of course they don't even know our real name, Wasps won't even tell them that much truth.  **"Okay, but we need to pass through here."**

 **"Suit yourself."** He continued walking. 

"Hey hyung?" We turned to Chanyeol. "I've been thinking on this since we heard the voice, but I think know which line of the prophecy this is."

"Which one?"

"The boy who is almost dead." Just as Chanyeol said that, the same boy's voice we heard came back.  _"Please come. Please."_ He sounded weak, I didn't doubt Chanyeol's thought. We picked up the pace, the pull even making sure we didn't stray a tad bit. Eventually came to a more suburban area that didn't look like it was inhabited by a Halliyun that was unstable, other than the fact it was maybe only nine and people weren't outside doing things. There weren't any cars either. I mean, there were cars just no cars on the roads. 

The pull felt like it was going to hop out of my chest when we finally got to the very specific house we needed to be at. It was a small one story house with a single light that shines on the porch and a little off to the side that needed upkeep but then again so did any house that had the name "Cursed House" associated with it no matter how unoriginal it was. If it has a creepy name attached to it, it probably needed some work done to it. Have you seen anyone call the White House cursed? (Actually, considering who's in it let's not answer that. I'm not even American and I'm definitely disappointed.) "Ring the doorbell." I said to Joonmyeon. "You ring it." He whispered "No, I'm not doing that."

"I had to make the plan last time, you ring it."

"That's not fair this is different-"

"One of you ring it!" 

"Then you ring it!" We whispered to Minseok. "No! You're the leaders!"

"Rock paper scissors?" Joonmyeon said. We played. I lost. I rang the doorbell. 

A few moments later the door opened. It wasn't him though. It was a woman in her middle ages, her black hair tied in a bun wearing pants and a wrinkled shirt that seemed to have been fine this morning.  **"Can I help you?"** Her voice was harsh, like mine, I could get behind that.  **"Yes, do you by any chance have a son?"**

 **"No. I have a daughter. Why do you need to know this?"** I could fist off tell she was lying, second I knew something was weird about her but I couldn't place my finger on it. Her voice sounded harsher that mine now, I could no longer get behind that.  **"Mam' we just need to speak to him-"**

 **"I said I don't have a son. Now get off my property."** She slams the door. I turn to the other three. "Am I that bad to you guys?"

"Be reasonable Kris. You don't have enough time to slam doors in our faces. Alsp we're sure there's something under that poker face you have." Minseok says. I felt a little guilty now, I didn't notice I was treating them like that. "I'll try not to be that much of an ass okay? To any of you." I look at Joonmyeon when I say that last line, he thinks I dislike him still. It's what happens when I meet new people, I'm brash and pushy and all things people don't look for in companions.

"It's fine, like Minseok hyung said, we've grown used to your angry mess. There's some sweetness under all of that bitchy." Chanyeol said. "I am not bitchy!" 

 **"Are you looking for Lu?"** A very small voice asked. We turned and there was a little girlhouse holding a kitten under the light. She had light brown hair and was wearing a light pink dress, and for some reason was barefoot.  **"A deer?"**

 **"No! Lu is his my brother!"** I bend down to her height.  **"What is your name?"**

**"Luwen. Are you Wasps?"**

**"Not at all. Were you expecting a Wasp?"**

**"The kids at my school think I'm cursed because of our house. But it isn't my fault or his fault, please don't hurt him!"**

**"Luwen, we aren't going to hurt him we just wanted-"** The tree next to us lost a branch clean off, and we saw it float off and then drop suddenly in the middle of the road.  **"Come on. He is sick. It is why his power is crazy."** Luwen leads us behind the house and Minseok quickly translates back the conversation. There is a door, but she doesn't open it yet.  **"I need to ask him."** She is quiet before I ask her  **"Do you have powers?"**

 **"Nope! Just Lulu. He said you can come in and that he was waiting to meet you all."**  She opened the door to her brother's room. The first thing I noticed: This kid loves football (that's soccer for you Americans). There were football posters, a magazine, and even someone's jersey hanging on the handle of his closet.

The second thing which I'm pretty sure was everyone else's first thing: some of that shit is floating. I mean, there is a football well above the bed. My eyes travel down to the said bed, that is occupied by a boy. At that moment, I believe that he is the one Chanyeol was talking about. We're quick to go to his side.  **"He has gotten better since yesterday, he says because you all are here."** The boy is pale, sickly so. His hair is light brown like his little sister, and he looks a little thin. He looks tired and sad, but his eyes are very alive. 

I touch his shoulder and a weird feeling goes through me. I feel like I'm sharing strength, not that I'm getting weaker though, just helping someone get stronger. Almost immediately his colour returned and he could sit himself up a little.  _"Thank you."_ Our eyes widen even though we've heard him before. It's still a shock to be spoken to like this.  **"My name is Kris-"**

_"You can talk in your head, direct it at me. Thoughts have no true language, we can all understand one another and stop having to translate for them. However, I can understand Korean just fine."_

_"How did you know we couldn't speak Chinese?"_ Chanyeol asks(?)  _"Luwen told me."_

_"Can I listen to this conversation Lulu?"_

_"No. You'll get nervous and there is too much you have to learn."_ Luwen pouts and goes outside with her kitten.  _"Okay. My name is Lu Han, but you can just combine them into one. Luhan is what I'm used to and I'm 18."_

_"I'm Kris, I'm the leader."_

_"I'm Joonmyeon, I'm also the leader."_

_"I'm Minseok and that's my brother Chanyeol._ This is weird." He speaks the last part on accident.  _"Shh! If my mom hears you guys it's over for us."_

 _"Okay we get that,"_ Joonmyeon moves closer,  _"But why is everything floating?"_

_"Long story, I don't want to bother with it."_

_"Hey,"_ I say/think,  _"You're in our Luxion now, it isn't bothering us if you tell us what is wrong."_ Luhan smiled at me.  _"My powers should have been easy to learn to control; just reading minds and moving things. My powers didn't come at the same time as most Halliyun, when you turn three, but when I was five. My mom thought something was wrong with me and kept me home, but never taught me how to handle my powers and myself. She began to get paranoid that Wasps would find me if I was in the outside world or near anyone else. When my sister was born, she became my only connection to those things. Luwen is normal, so she could go to school and be happy. But my powers kept growing and I can't control them so things go up and down without me wanting them to. I don't think I'm much help to you all unfortunately. I was fading before you got here, mainly because no growing in powers means your Halliyun is too hurt to do anything. "_

 _"How old are you again Lu?"_ Joonmyeon asks.  _"18."_

_"Well I think it's high time you began to live your life. There are things happening and we need your help. Will you be a part of Exo with us?"_

_"B-But my mom-"_

_"We can help you. We just need to know if you're with us."_

_"Will it be scary?"_

_"A little probably,"_ Chanyeol admitted.  _"But we promise to have your back."_ Luhan nodded. He got out of the bed. Thankfully he wasn't as thin as I thought.  _"Let's start small, try to stop that ball from floating. Put it on your bed."_ Minseok says. Luhan holds put his hand and concentrates. In a few moments, the football is successfully on the bed and stays there thankfully.  _"Progress."_

_"I guess. And by the way, I'm with you all. I've even made a link so you can talk to each other like this without me having to be around. Just do as you are doing now but direct it at a different person. We just have to get past my mom."_

_"Why don't we go out the back?"_

_"That door is too squeaky, the only reason she didn't come in is because she knows Luwen is outside. Come on."_ Luhan, along with not talking, doesn't walk either. He hovers over the ground and opens the door to the hallway. I feel a tug at my shirt and Luwen is behind me.  **"Take care of my gege okay?"**

 **"Of course. I'm sorry we are taking him from you."** She shakes her head.  **"I know you have to. My mama is like him too, but she said Lulu didn't need one. I think she was lying, cause he is already stronger than yesterday. When you get back, can you tell him to buy me a better football?"**

 **"I'll be sure to Luwen. Be good."** Chanyeol came up to her and gave her the box Sunmi was in. The mini elephant had been quiet all day, I though Yeol had left her in the hotel room.  **"You... take care her? Small elephant, her name is Sunmi. Eat small plants, likes fruit. Can keep her, give back when I come okay?"**

 **"Yeah. Go kick a Wasp butt!"** She kicked the air and giggled before opening the box and picking Sunmi out of it. Luwen smiled as the elephant blew its trunk at the new person, she was adorable and it made me even more determined to bring her brother back in even better condition. She turns back to the room, and I see that she has a hearing aid in her right ear. It's when I turn back I realize Chanyeol's eyes are a little red.

We're in the kitchen, his mom has her back turned.  _"I'm going mother."_

 _"What do you mean Lu-"_ She gasped when she saw us.  **"Luhan, why are strangers in our house?"**

  _"I am leaving with them."_

**"You cannot! Do you know what will happen to you? Wasps will take you in an instant."**

_"This is my Luxion. I am an adult and can make my own decisions."_

**"You cannot even control your own powers what makes you think you can do this?"**

_"I don't think I know."_ His mother glared at us.  **"Who is the leader?"**

 ** _"We are."_** I speak and Joonmyeon thinks.  _"Minseok has been translating for us."_ He tells me.  **"You two have taken my child away from me! He was a good son and you are stealing him."**

 **"You robbed him of his chance to have a normal life, never gave him time to see what he was capable of. I think you stole something much more valuable."** I was used to talking to adults with less respect than should be given, but this time I didn't think she deserved any. Luhan looked hurt deep down, a wound constantly being open and never tended to. And I know for a fact that she is the cause of it.  **"You are Halliyun and you don't even treat him as one."**

 **"He should never have had powers in the first place!"** She hissed.  **"He should have been born the same as his sister!"** We all stop. That is the worst thing a parent could ever say to their child.  _You should be more like _______._ I see the window begin to rattle.  **"Luhan, it's okay. Calm down."** Minseok says, trying to get him back to normal.  _"Does she mean that?"_

 _"No,"_ Joonmyeon shakes his head,  _"You are just right. Powers or none you are still you. And you with powers can do a lot. But right now we need you to stay calm."_ Luhan nodded, but the window was still rattling. He looked at his mother with betrayed eyes.  **"Lu Han I command you to go back into your room and that these boys leave!"** A feeling washed over me, and I'm pressured into leaving the house suddenly. What were we here for again? The four of us are going to the door when I stop "Wait!" I say. 

That was it. That was her power; persuasion. Joonmyeon, Minseok, and Chanyeol looked back at me with glossed over eyes. Then the spell was broken. Okay, now I was even madder. Do what you want to me, but not to them.  **"You yourself are fading aren't you? That's why it didn't work for long."**

**"Who are you to come into my house and tell me what to do?"**

**"Your own son was literally dying,"** I gesture to Luhan, whose hands are shaking. He is looking at the ground.  **"Lu, my son what is wron-"**

**"Luhan are you okay? Kris I think he's having a-"**

**"An attack. I know. Myeon had one."**

**"He is not having an attack there is nothing wrong with his head. My son is fine. Those are just from people who seek attention."** I narrowed my eyes. Attention? People suddenly can't function for  _attention?_ If I didn't need to tend to my newest Luxion member I'd smack her with my wing at full force. I'm very happy Joonmyeon can't speak Chinese at that moment.  **"Luhan just forget them and-"**

 _"Stop!"_ Luhan shouts in our heads and everyone is pushed against a wall, unable to move. I don't know how he does it but I do know we all collectively knock out. Probably from how much that fucking hurt to be pushed up against a wall with the force of what felt like a thousand suns. When we come to, I move my eyes to look at the yellow clock on the wall. 11:48 it read. We were out for practically two hours. My head aches, and I see the rest begin to wake up.

Luhan still leaves us there and he pulls his knees to his chest as he curls into a ball in the air. None of us speak, not even his mother.  _"Please stop. Too many voices all at once. You all don't know, how much it hurts to hear all these thoughts at once. Not just yours but the whole neighborhoods. My brain can't hold them and you're not helping me. I can turn them off now, I learned how, but sometimes when you all are screaming at me I just can't anymore."_ He slowly lets us go, and Chanyeol practically runs to his side. Luhan let's him.  _"Tune it out, just try. We won't make you go with us."_

 _"No. I'm coming,"_ The telepath stands back up.  _"I'm coming now. I packed a bag already. I've been prepared."_ A flick of his wrist and a black duffel bag comes in, he holds it next to him.  **"Luhan, please don't do this. Stay here with Luwen and I."**

 _"I can't mother. I know what I have to do and this is the life I need to have. Here I cause her to be teased and hurt. If I'm with them, then I know I am doing something right."_ He comes toward us, feet almost touching the ground. A pair of shoes fit his feet, but he still hovers.  **"If you go, you can never come back. You will not lead them to our house."** He turns towards the door and closes his eyes.  _"I know."_

* * *

We walk in silence for some time, with Luhan still hovering. None of us knew what to say, so we didn't say anything until we heard a sound. A sniffle. It came from Luhan. We turn to him, and we see tears running down his face. Almost immediately I'm uncomfortable, I don't know how to comfort crying people. I don't do that because I'm rarely around people who cry.

 I willingly stepped back when Joonmyeon moved to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's alright Lu, you'll be okay. She can't hurt you anymore, she won't control you ever again even if she tries."

_"You don't know that Joonmyeon."_

"I do. Because if she ever wants to try again, she has another thing coming. .. Lu, is she what keeps making you move things without wanting to? Out here, now that you're farther from her, other than a few rocks or pebbles I haven't seen you do anything out of place." 

 _He nods. "It really and truly only happens when I'm scared. I spent my whole life thinking I was a monster, and that I would hurt somebody. And then I did, but I didn't mean it. Then she told me all these things and-"_   _He took a shaky breath._ " _I need to thank you all again; if it wasn't for you I think I may have faded."_ I remembered the line we associated him with and pulled out the paper. "Chanyeol, a little light please?" It was probably midnight or something now, and the only thing being the light from the city that we are soon to be in. His index and middle finger burn and I (as in just me) look at the paper.  _"Were you the boy who set fire to the circus?"_

"Not one of my finest moments"

_"It was pretty cool though."_

"Don't encourage him." Minseok says as I make sure I read this right.

Huh, guess we were wrong. His symbol wasn't by  _The boy who is almost dead_ but  _The boy who doesn't have to touch anything._ I mean, it isn't wrong. I tell them what I read and Luhan's eyes turn afraid.  _"Then who is almost dead?"_

"We don't know yet." Minseok says, "We don't even know where to start." I point to Luhan's hovering. "We can start with that. You have to walk from now on, floating people aren't normal." Luhan sighed and let his feet touch the ground. He put a foot forward shakily, before stumbling.  _"Sorry,"_ He smiled apologetically,  _"It's been a whole since I've hand to actually walk."_

"No biggie, just take baby steps. One foot in front of the other." Chanyeol slowed his pace to help Luhan as we entered the city. "Do we book another room, or will you mind sharing with me and Joonmyeon or Minseok and Yeol?"

 _"I'll room with them two."_ Me and Joonmyeon have grown used to each other, spent three weeks without any pulls in the same hotel room remember? I nod and we get to our hotel with Luhan getting the hang of walking in no time. We got in the elevator to go to the fourth floor when suddenly it stopped. Not on any floor, just no longer moving. Then the lights went out. "Fuck." Chanyeol said. Before his hand gave us some light.

"Language." Joonmyeon retaliates. "Fine  _mom._ " Chanyeol teases. "I am not a mom."

"Dude, I've known you for two days and you're about as mom friend as it gets." Minseok puts his gloves hands together before sitting down. "Kris, tell them I'm not a mom friend."

"Sorry man, you are definitely the mom friend." He groaned and leaned against the wall. "First the elevator stops and now I'm the designated mom friend."

"If it's any consolation, Chanyeol is undoubtedly the annoying little brother that you can't get rid of friend." Minseok laughs, "Amen to that!" And Luhan cracks a smile. "I thought we were bullying hyung not me!"

"We can do both." Then it began to move without lights on or anything. Luhan's palm is raised upward, he's doing it.  _"Going up?"_

"Fourth floor, you're a peach Lu." Minseok smiles at him. You can't really tell because it could just be the tint from the fire but Luhan's cheeks seem to turn colours.  _"I know."_ It seems to take absolutely no effort for him to move a whole elevator, I wonder how much it would be for him to even break a sweat. "How much can you move?" Chanyeol asks, as if he read my mind (but that is Lu's thing).  _"I don't know exactly, but I have moved a house a few centimeters. It was really hard to do ever again, the only reason I did it was because I wasn't paying attention. I think someone pissed me off so I moved their house subconsciously."_

"Lit." I turned to Chanyeol, "Did you just say 'lit'?"

"Yes, and now that I know you hate it I'll say it more." I debate on punching him, and then I decide not to. The doors open thanks to Lu.  _"I don't know who is that almost dead boy specifically, but I know where we may be able to find him."_

"Where?"

_"Changsha. There is one of our members there. Without him, I would have faded since I never used my powers correctly."_

"How do you know him?" I asked, it seems like Luhan could never leave his house.

_"I felt his thoughts and now we can sometimes talk, he gives me strength. Now I've got you all though and we can find him in the morning."_

"Argh! Can we sleep in?" Chanyeol begged. "You can sleep on the plane," Minseok said. "Book a flight Myeon, who knows how long we'll have to be walking and stuff. We're going to bed." I gave a wave and they went into their room.  _"He's special, if anyone is almost dead it's around him."_

"Then we'll start tomorrow." Joonmyeon states. We're all quiet, we all have something on our minds. "Are you... gonna be okay?" I ask Luhan. He seems scared, but of what I don't know. This isn't my forte, I don't understand how to comfort people.  _"Yeah..."_ He nods his head, even his thoughts sound unsure.  _"Just please don't throw me out if I make a mistake. I don't have anywhere else to go anymore."_

"Hey, did you not hear Joonmyeon earlier? We aren't leaving you behind for anything." He smiles before he hugs me. Now I know he is trying to be nice but I don't hug, not my thing. I'm stiff and I can feel it before he let's go. He didn't notice though.  _"Goodnight to the both of you. See you in the morning."_

"Goodnight Lu!" Joonmyeon said before opening our door. "Dude, you could've at least hugged him back." 

"What? You know I'm not like that."

"Yeah. I do. He doesn't, he just met you an hour ago. He's also hurting and scared and sometimes people need a hug even if you've only known them for a day or less." 

"I don't know how to do that okay!" He gave me a confused look, "Do what?"

"Make people feel better like you do. I've never had to so I don't know how."

"What about your friends back home?" I shook my head, "I couldn't get close to anyone, couldn't afford it," I hoped he didn't ask about that, and he didn't. "If anything, I consider you all my friends." He smiles shortly but it was sincere at me, which has never happened. Joonmyeon doesn't smile at me, perhaps at something I've said to the others but not directly at me. So progress. "When someone is crying, you normally back away?"

"Yeah." I sound like a sociopath even to myself. "Well that is going to change starting tonight. Sometimes people just want to talk about what's bothering them, and you can help them however you possibly can. Other times they just want to talk, and all you can really do is listen."

"What if they don't want to talk at all but something is still bothering them?"

"Then it's best to hug them. Like whenever Luhan comes up to me, I try to see if I need to hug him before anything. Sure he's as old as Minseok but really needs someone to look to for comfort. And we're leaders so that's our job." 

" _Your_ job. I can't tell when people need a hug or anything else." Joonmyeon just shook his head. "Kris, there is no meter that goes off to tell you how people are handled. People are people and you just learn from trying."

"What about you?"

"Hm?" 

"I mean what would you want, to be talked to or listened or what?"

"Um... I don't really know. It depends but most of the time just being talked to does the trick." I feel pretty stupid, I mean what kind of person doesn't even know how to comfort other people? Joonmyeon doesn't look at me like I'm stupid though, just misinformed. "Kris how long has it been since you've hugged someone back?"

"Like maybe a few years? I don't do contact."

"What about when you left to come find me? You didn't hug your mom-"

"No." His eyes are sad, and he's probably wondering what I went through to haven't hugged my mother in that long. Well if it comes down to it I'll tell him, if it doesn't I won't. But we're in China and if we're unlucky I may have to tell everyone earlier than anticipated. 

Then he sighed and hugged me.  I was caught off guard, we just had a whole talk about this and then he hugs me anyway. "Joonmyeon what are you-"

"Hug me back idiot. Learn to hug correctly, it actually hurts me to see you swerve away from people."

"I don't want-"

"If you don't hug me back I'm not letting go." I slowly moved to my hands so I was hugging him back. He finally let me go, that was weird. I mean not like a horrible let's never do this or talk to each other again weird but still weird. "Was that so hard?" 

"Yes." 

"We'll work on it."

"Do we have to?" He grabbed some clothes from his duffle. "Yes," Joonmyeon went to the bathroom. "Good leaders need to be strong, and also soft."

"That's why there's two of us!" I call out as he goes into the bathroom. I hear the shower run.  _"Hey Lu? Are you up?"_ I try my best to direct the thought only at him. 

_"I am now, stop thinking so hard. You woke me up like that, just imagine it's like a telephone call. What's up?"_

_"The boy we're going to be looking for, do you know his name?"_

_"Um... actually he mentioned it only once or twice."_

_"Okay what is it?"_

_"Yixing."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this note halfway through the chapter so idk how this one turned out but in advance I am sorry for any bullshit or inconsistency I pull in this fic. A majority of this is written at 3 a.m
> 
> Also every time I had Kris say for you Americans it was weird because I'm technically American
> 
> Also #2 Chanyeol is shorter than irl because he's like 10 years off like some of the others in this fic (you'll catch on to ages eventually)
> 
> (Also sorry for being a few minutes late)


	13. Not an update pls read tho

Because of the Thanksgiving break I will not be having an update for any of my works. However, I do plan to have something up for this book on the 5th. (Or maybe I'll show something small before then, but no full chapters)

-Jinlee!


	14. We swerve into doubting town

Kris on a plane is equal parts entertaining and stressful. It's stressful because he swears something is wrong with the way the plane is flying so often that I wanna suffocate him, but hilarious because his stone cold face just dies and he looks mildly attacked. Actually, it's 80% entertaining and 20% stressful. 

We woke up at 6:30 to catch the 7:10 plane which in hindsight was terrible because we did catch the plane but we were hungry as hell. Chanyeol was the only one mad about it, claiming he'd look like a troll if he didn't sleep long enough to which Minseok said he already was one and got burned on his ear. (He then froze his brother's left hand, which melted away in a few seconds but it still made him upset.) Chanyeol and him both seem to be in one of those sibling feuds that no one really understands why or how it started and frankly we're too scared to ask. I think it may have something to do with the fact Chanyeol had to give up Sunmi, even though she probably wouldn't survive this trip and deserves a good home.

Chanyeol is walking in between Kris and I and Minseok on Kris's after Luhan side through the airport. "What do you guys want for breakfast?"

"Chicken ramen." Chaneyol points at a restaurant, to which Minseok replies, "Ramen isn't breakfast dumbass." Chanyeol glared at his brother. "Sorry kid, but he's right." Kris shrugs his shoulders. The youngest rolls his eyes and then gasps when he sees Luhan eating... a bag of green grapes? "Luhan where did you get those?"

_"Idk I just saw them."_

"First off how are you even able to speak in abbreviations and second Joonmyeon could have easily paid for it." I poke Kris in the stomach. "Do not spend my money like that! We can use yours for small things and mine for not small things like hotel rooms and the lot. And Lu, no stealing." 

_"Okay... mom."_

"Okay the next person who calls me mom will suffocate!" Luhan laughs out loud, but seeing as we all thought he couldn't make any sounds come from his mouth I'll let it slide.  _"Come on!"_ He says, walking ahead of us with a smile on his face.  _"The faster we get to Changsha the faster we can save that boy and the faster we can all enjoy ourselves."_

 _"Slow down! You're gonna float to the ceiling moving like that."_ Minseok thought. Luhan smiled sheepishly.  _"Sorry I'm just so happy to be actually outside. Can you believe there are people who would rather stay in? Who would want to be in a small building like your house when you could be out doing something or on your way to somewhere?"_

As a homebody, I am offended. 

I feel my phone vibrate somewhere in my bag, and I grab it. Huh, I don't remember saving her number." 

"Hello-"

"Oh thank god you're not dead!" Dara exclaims over the phone. "And if you're wondering Myeon, I put my number in."

"How did you guess my password?" She laughs, "I didn't! Bom hacked it. I had the idea in the middle of the night and didn't want to wake you up at all." Well, at least her intentions came from the heart. "So did you find anyone else? The suspense has been killing me."

"Yeah, a boy named Luhan. He's about as old as Minseok." Luhan raised an eyebrow when I mentioned his name, and Chanyeol explained who Dara and the rest of 2ne1 is. "Okay so which one was he? The boy who can go anywhere? No home? Time is up?" 

"The boy who doesn't have to touch anything. He can move things with his mind."

"Ooh! I wanna talk to him!" Well this will be interesting when the two of them meet. One of them doesn't talk and the other only talks (I mean that in the most loving way possible). "Talking isn't something he does." I can hear her deflate when I tell her that. "It's fine, I shall meet him eventually. You guys are in China now right? Don't ask just believe in the power of Bom. Do you guys know where exactly you're going?"

"Somewhere in Changsha," I say as Kris has us check into a hotel, everyone still rooms with the same people. I toss my duffel and his bag onto the bed. "Luhan- our new member- says he may know where another one is, or at least someone who can help us. His name is Yixing. Luhan says he probably can help us find our Luxion member."

"That's good - eep!" I heard a thud and then another voice came through the phone. "Holy shit you guys!" It was Bom. "You guys are on the news, kinda. Anyway turn on a t.v to CBS!" I put the phone on speaker and grab the remote just as Kris comes out of the bathroom. "Bom says we're on t.v. Say hi Kris." 

"How long have we been on?"

"That is not a hello." He sighs,"Hi Bom, how is everyone?" 

"We're good. Anyway it just started." We turn to the t.v which is already conveniently on CBS. I can't really understand it since it is in Chinese, but I recognize who is with the reporter. It's that guy Kris talked to when we met Luhan. I looked to Kris, who's face was a mix of confusion. "Kris? What's going on? How were we-" I stop talking, the t.v gives me all I need to know. Footage of the circus incident is on the screen, taken by a bad camera from a phone. No one's face is visible, but Minseok's Xiang Di ice sculpture is very prominent other than Chanyeol casually setting something on fire. "T-They're talking about the hunt for us again, but now they're looking in China. They still don't know what we look like, but are looking for gloved men ranging from 170 to 175 centimeters since the guy remembers Minseok cause of his gloves down to the colour. Also that guy couldn't give much on Luhan other than his brown hair colour and that he was pale. He hasn't seen him much. Would make sense since Lu never goes outside. He's not who I'm worried about."

"Yeah..." How are we going to tell Minseok that he can't wear his gloves anymore? "Do not make me rock paper scissors this one."

"No," I agree, that would be insensitive, "We both will tell him." Neither of us want to tell him. 

We hang up with 2ne1, they tell us to be safe, and knock on their hotel door. Luhan opens it with a smile but then drops it.  _"What is wrong?"_

"Nothing Lu." Kris says.  _"Don't lie. I can just read-"_

"Don't read my mind without permission. So don't read it, you will never have permission." His voice is cold, and Luhan drops it. "Minseok we need to talk." The said boy looks up from the bed. "Someone recorded us, that night at the circus. The guy we saw on our way to Lu's remembers your gloves specifically and came to the Wasps to give information. We're going to need you to take them off." His eyes turned afraid. "Y-You guys know what my hands look like. I can't just go out like this. Guys! I'll make this even worse if they get taken off." 

_“Can’t you simply keep your hands in your pockets?”_

“Lu, that’s suspicious. If my hands were normal we wouldn’t have to stop and cause a scene every time we got on a plane. I’m not taking them off.”

“Minseok, you have to.” Kris tried to say with an even voice but I can tell he’s a little on edge. Something I learned about Kris already which is something he is doing a very good job of hiding, which I probably only picked up from being here with him for a month. He actually cares more than he lets on. “He isn't taking them off.” Chanyeol says darkly. “Chanyeol no-”

“He doesn't want to! Do you know what happens to him? You're not going to make him, no one is making anyone do anything.” Kris and Chanyeol look at one another, and I don't know what's going to happen here. “Chanyeol don't be ridiculous. Do you know how many things will go wrong?”

“He. Doesn't. Have to.” Chanyeol seems like he'll burst into flames right in the room. He even takes a step towards Kris, who seems unafraid. “Don't make my brother do anything.” He seethes to the older. “You have blinders on with this right now. Don't you understand that things could go to hell really fast?” I don't know what Chanyeol was going to because he never gets the chance. A force stops the both of them from being able to move.   _“Both of you calm yourselves. Minseok listen to me…”_ Luhan stopped talking and spoke only to Minseok. The said boy sighed and nodded. “I’ll take them off, but I’ll need somehow to fix them. I’m going to keep them in my pockets, please don’t make me have to do anything else.”

“They won’t.” Chanyeol says, it’s aimed at Kris however. Minseok quickly takes off his gloves and is about to put them in his pockets when Luhan stopped him. “Lu!” Minseok tried to move his hands away but Lu had enough of a control over his power to stop him. His hands are red and blue with frost. He blasts ice at the telepath, not enough to hurt him but to have him yelp and lose hs focus. Minseok threw his hands into his pockets and glared. “Don’t do that!”

_“I know if we bring you to that boy, Yixing that we can fix you. I wanted to see what’s wrong.”_

“Why didn’t you ask?” Luhan looked down, he didn’t have an answer. “Luhan why?”

_“You wouldn’t show me otherwise. Minseok I didn’t have to read your mind for that. I just wanted to see what was wrong with it. But why do dislike them? Patterns are quite beautiful.”_

“I don’t have patterns Lu, I’ve stared at them for my entire life. They aren’t anything but splotches everywhere. My hands are nothing but broken and horrible, whenever I use my powers too much this is what happens.”

 _“No. I’m sure that they have patterns. I saw them just now.”_ I pull Luhan over to the side. _“Listen Lu, I know you were only trying to help but you can't just do that to someone.”_ I can't be mad at him, or bring myself to scold him in any way. _“I was just wanting to see the patterns. I don't know why only I see them but I do and they aren't just splotches!”_

 _“I believe you, you probably see something the rest of us can't but you have to ask for things like that. Minseok's hands are a really sensitive subject so could you please have a little more caution with them? Ask him to see his hands later, and if he says no you can’t be forceful.”_ He nods, obviously taking this seriously. I know he's trying his best, the only time he's socialized is with his mother and sister so I can't blame him for not knowing how other people react. Then it fully dawned on me; Luhan doesn't know basic people skills. _“Number one you need to apologize to Minseok and explain yourself. He'll forgive you.”_ Luhan didn't look sure but went back over to the brothers. Kris and I walk out the room to let them settle their problems out. “Kris, Luhan doesn't understand people.”

“I know. He had told me yesterday night. He was worried about being a burden and just some dead weight. He's more helpful than he thinks, he can talk to people and get them to listen to him like what he just did with Minseok. Also his power set isn't to shabby.”

“I know how he feels.” Kris sighs. I think he likes me more than in the beginning, but neither of us know how to talk to each other. We both need to lead together but we still make all major decisions with rock paper scissors. We are very bad at our jobs. He doesn't hate me he just… doesn't want me around. At least that's how I see it.

 _“Come on, I know where we need to go.”_ It's Luhan, but his voice (if you can call it that) sounds different. A little sad. _“Where?”_ I ask. _“Yuelu mountains. Don't ask me how I know but I just feel it.”_

_“Like when we met you? Then why don't we feel a pull.”_

_“Not like that. I just know.”_ Kris looks at me. “He isn't sure.” I say even though he heard Luhan as well. “How do you know?”

“There isn't a pull, he just has a hunch.”

“Better than nothing.”

“But what if he's wrong?”

“Joonmyeon,” Kris gives me a look that faintly reminds me of the day at the safehouse when he told me he was afraid, his eyes don't have their usual stance, “Luxions don't rely on pulls, they rely on trust.”

“But we need to find them.”

“And we will. Even if he is wrong, the could at least be leading us in the right direction.” I calm down even though this whole ordeal makes me feel lightheaded. “You don't trust anyone though.” I don't know why I said that. Even right after I wanted to punch myself in the mouth. Then Kris's eyes became unreadable and he walked up to me. “You're the first person to tell me that.”

“Tell you what?”

“The truth. Most people avoid it, avoid it even more when the truth is something about them that isn't pretty. And you're right about that; I don't trust anyone at all because when I did I lost everything. I don't like losing things that mean a lot to me. I don't even trust you all yet I just have faith in you.”

“Then why are you telling me to trust Luhan? That's hypocritical.”

“If you trust him enough, maybe I'll trust eventually too.” With that the door opens and Luhan is in front of us. “What are you doing! I could've drowned you!”

_“You two were taking too long. Didn’t mean to scare.”_

“That is not a valid excuse!” Minseok laughs and we walk out. Luhan leads the way.

 

* * *

 

It doesn't take a long time to get to the bottom of the mountain. About an hour by bus, we still don't feel anything. I'm beginning to get nervous again. I can tell so does Minseok, but for a different reason. He had thrown on a jacket, and his pockets were quickly turning frosted. “Hey, you're gonna be okay. Nothing will hurt you I promise.”

“Can you really promise me that Myeon?”

“I can hyung. I swear to you.” I haven't sworn to do something since I swore to my mom I'd be safe and that she could meet everyone. “I hope you can.” We get off the bus, it's hot but not too terrible. It's bearable, it feels okay. _“Minseok, how are you not dying?”_

“Me and Chanyeol's body have different temperatures. I can easily live in freezing temperatures and my body can cool me off in times like this. Yeol however; thrives in heat like this or higher and warms himself up in cooler temperatures.”

_“So he could wear a jacket just like you right now and he'd be fine?”_

“No I would not,” Chanyeol says, “I'll burn up probably. I don't know what's up with my body, but I'd be so hot I wouldn't be surprised if I burst into flames. If you want me to be living my best life in the heat, I’d need to be in shorts and a tee or I’d melt.”

_“You can do that?”_

“Nope.” They kept talking about the extent of the elemental powered siblings when suddenly Luhan shook and fell to the ground. There weren't any people with us, the few other people that also wanted to go to the mountains had went on different paths. He coughed and black dust came out of his mouth. Chanyeol and Minseok looked at each other. “I don't understand, how is this happening to you? We're with you now shouldn't this have stopped?”

_“It's more than that, it had been going on for too long. You four are just slowing the process down. I need to get up that mountain.”_

“Kris can you- never mind. I was going to tell you to use your wings but that isn't worth it. We can't risk you too.” I said. I tried my best to keep from sounding nervous, Kris and Minseok I didn't know how long he'd be alright. Luhan was getting back on his feet and was able to walk thank god. But he was still fading and who knows when he'll turn into the same dust that he was coughing up.


	15. We are now entering doubting town (mountain?)

I really was getting tired of this shit.   
  
Now, what shit was I exactly getting tired of? Other than the daily crushing anxiety I'm getting tired of fates having to be with me. Luhan is okay, he is out of it a little but he is still walking well. I'm more worried about Chanyeol, who has embers and small sparks popping off of his hair every now and then. I feel like he is going to accidentally start a fire- wait. My brain is just making things up now. The fire will never spread in time.   
  
Luhan's walking ability is questionable, he led us off the normal paths and into the denser parts. We thought his fading had something to do with it, but be sounded very firm when telling us where to go. However, it isn't clear and avoiding things like big roots is hard for him. It slows us down, it would be evening by the time we reach the bottom of the mountain after coming from… wherever this is. Kris even began to doubt him. "Lu, are you sure you know where you're going?"   
  
_ "I've taken this path thousands of times in my dreams. I know where I'm going. When are Halliyun ever wrong?"  _   
  
"I'm just saying. You could be a little-"   
  
_ "I said I know where I'm going!" Luhan snapped at him, "For once in my life let me do something."  _   
  
A new voice said something from behind us. I and Luhan were the only ones who didn't look ready to fight when we turned back. It was an old woman with a red shawl hiding her white hair and black blouse with a skirt on. At first I thought it was because I couldn't speak Chinese, but then I saw Chanyeol already about to set something ablaze. She looked me dead in the eyes as Kris responded back to her, pointing to me and Chanyeol. "Ah. Well, my Korean not perfect. But I know few things. Please come, better Korean speak Halliyun there." The only one of us who moved was Luhan. Minseok said something to him in Chinese that sounded like he was most likely asking him what the hell.  _ "I trust her. She can read my thoughts without me letting her in as I did with you guys." _ The woman nods. "Yes. Now please come. He does not look good. Fading."    
  
We walk hesitantly behind her as she speaks mostly to Luhan in each other's minds. Kris falls back to where I am. "You trust her?"   
  
"If Luhan does, I guess we will. Isn't it a little too paranoid if we don't even trust an old woman?"   
  
"Yes. But you don't either so..." I shake it off, boo paranoia. Yet I don't take down the wall for her to peek inside my mind. Luhan explained a little to us, how he can talk to people in their heads. There are certain walls as he calls them in people's minds, and one is always subconsciously down; the one he talks through. Behind that is a wall for thoughts, and even farther is a wall for memories. Apparently, the old lady can peep into your head and talk to us and access our thoughts, but I've got that first wall up and I refuse to take it down. I’d rather her not talk to me than see what I’m thinking. 

Then I hear Luhan cough, the lady held him up and she surprised me that she could support all his weight. She waited until he was finished coughing, he said something to Kris who had neared them. He nodded curtly then turned to us. “Were almost there. It’s right in here.” He pointed forward to a cave. She spoke again. “Don’t be afraid of it, it is just a pathway. You will see the real place in a moment.” Kris translated. “Do we trust her Myeon?” Chanyeol asked. They all were looking at me. Even Luhan and the woman was.  _ “I won't go without you saying so. We can find another way, you're one of our leaders after all.” _

“Let's not try that. I don't want to see you fade away. If she says someone there can save you, then that's the best shot we've got.” Minseok relays our decision back to the lady, who nods and we walk into the cave. Chanyeol gives us light, but we realize we don't need it. 

The entire cave ceiling had little blue dots on them. “The stars are pretty,” She says softly as we walk, “Can you see what say?” I believe she is referring to the ‘stars’. We all shake our heads, none of us can read Hain. She saddens. “Find how to see what say.” I see a light at the end of the cave, and when we step through I feel that lovely spark in my chest. Luhan was right, he was here.

Out of the cave, there is a village. It seems like a small farming community; animals and crops were all around in pens and barns with houses near them. No one seems to pay us any mind other than to give a smile when they saw us walking by. It seemed like a whole different world compared to what we were trekking through. A boy near our age runs up to her and gives a bow before talking. He notices us and narrows his eyes, then gives a smile when she talks to him. “She says he is the half-born who keeps this place looking the way it does. His power makes the land adapt to his needs, which is why the dense forests on the mountains are just gone.” Minseok says. The boy’s blonde hair is a little messy and he tries to smooth it down. “I'm Sicheng. My Korean isn't best but I am okay. Qiwen told me you looking for Yixing ge yes?” I nod. “Okay, I shall take you. Qiwen should rest, she spent many time looking for you.”

“Are you from Halliyun?” Chanyeol asks. It takes Sicheng a minute to understand, but when he does he laughs and shakes his head. “No, too young. Halliyun already ran here when I was born. Maybe if I was born a little early, I could have been part of last to leave. You can't really find full Halliyun my age or younger. I am only 14. None here, only half borns and older Halliyun live here.”

“How come no one has found out about this place?”

“Qiwen. Her power can make hidden things. She uses a lot so we can have this whole place hidden even after she dies for a long time. When I get stronger, I want the same.” 

“Do you have a Luxion Sicheng?” I don't think Chanyeol will ever run out of questions unless he suddenly blacks out. “I don't know. I feel nothing of them, but I don't want to leave. My family is here.”

“Do you ever leave?”

“Sometimes, never far away from the mountain. If I have Luxion I go, if I do not I will stay. I just hope they let me make that choice and do not get angry if I am to want to stay a little longer. Come on, Yixing is here. He has best Korean here. The member you are looking for may be here also.” It was a small two-story (or just a very visible attic) with white walls, there was no farm by it, but a garden of flowers. The five of us all knew that he had to be, that pull was too strong. Sicheng opens the door to even more plants. The living room had pots upon pots all around. The plants were beautiful and well taken care of. “It's bigger on the inside,” Minseok says softly. “I did this also. I adapted it.” Sicheng says with a smile in his voice. “He is upstairs. There may be other persons also.” We walk up to see two people in the doorframe of a room. The woman exchanges words with Sicheng before acknowledging us. “She said they’ll be done soon, her son is with Yixing.” Luhan was resting on the wall, he didn’t look awful; I could see Sunmi when she saved us. The more I think about her, the more I realize it was more than sunken cheeks. She had dry lips and yellow in the whites in her eyes. I keep staring at Luhan without paying attention, but I keep thinking about Sunmi. Where was her Luxion? Why did they let her die? 

“Hey Myeon?” I turn and Minseok is looking at me with worried eyes he’s wringing his hands which he has put his gloves back on. “What are you thinking about?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about me.”

“I’ll have Lu-”

“Don’t.”

_ “He is remembering.”  _ I look over at our fading member. “I thought Kris told you not to go through our-”

_ “I did not. You wear your emotions on your face very clearly Joonmyeon. I will not ask what it is, it makes you look sad.”  _

“Thanks.” I didn’t know if I was thanking him for not going through my head or not asking. “Kris also wanted me to ask if we’re going to have time to make it back down today?”

“Also? What had he asked before?”   
“He told me to check on you, I hadn’t noticed until he pointed out that you were looking like that.” I looked over at the blonde talking to the other blonde in Chinese, he wasn’t paying any attention to me. Sicheng said something that made Kris laugh. It was him who actually looked at me. He said something, which led Kris to look at me with a confused face before a little boy ran in between them. “It’s time, let’s go save your friend.” The pull was strong, he was in there. I was nervous, I didn’t want to have to see another fading Halliyun. I walked in last, and I was surprised. 

There was no second boy, just one who I’m guessing is Yixing. Yixing was already looking at Luhan, speaking quickly and sitting him down on one of the multiple beds immediately. “Yixing right?”

“Yes?” 

“I think that-”

“I know,” He looked up from Luhan. His eyes are a deep purple when he looks at us, “Can we talk about this after I have taken care of him? Sicheng, you can go now, prepare two rooms in here for them. It’s already too late in the day for them to make the trip.” Sicheng nodded and left. “Okay then,” Yixing turned back to us before smiling, he has a dimple on his right cheek, “Let’s get one thing situated really quickly, he is sick. Luhan - he is going to be okay, I’ll make sure of it. I’m a healer, and a good one I think, but it will still take me some time to get him back to however Luhan used to be. It’s very hard to help him from all the way back where he lived in Haidian, I could heal him in his dreams but not much. As for now, he needs to sleep and rest. By tomorrow he’ll be even better than you have ever seen him before. Luhan told me that you’re named Minseok yes?” He looked at the correct person, Minseok with his gloved hands. “And he has two leaders?”

“Yeah,” Kris said, “I’m Kris and that’s Joonmyeon. That kid over there is Minseok’s brother Chanyeol.”

“I am not a kid!”

_ “Yes you are.” _

“Don’t use your powers yet!” Yixing looked at him warily. “You keep using them for small sentences but that all adds up in the end. Do not make me have to put you to sleep myself.”

“Since you can heal, does that mean you can heal yourself?” (Asked by Yeol, obviously.)

“I can, I’m not going to intentionally injure myself for demonstration. Before you ask I can put people to sleep very easily. It’s also a side effect of my powers, the more I use the more tired me and whoever I’m healing get. Luhan already is almost sleeping.” At the mention of his name, Luhan waved and tried to sit back up to show he was fine even though he looked drowsy. Yixing threateningly held two fingers up as they glowed yellow. He said something in Chinese that may have been ‘I swear to god I will knock you out’ because Luhan laid right back down. “Come with me.” He closes the door softly behind Luhan’s sleeping figure. 

We go back downstairs to the kitchen, it seems to be the only area not full of plants. I mean, his house house feels more like a greenhouse. But a very nice and organized greenhouse, the plants aren’t growing out of control and making it impossible to navigate, it’s just that if I step on anything I’m afraid it may be a vine and he’ll know then kill me. 

“I know why you guys are here, and it isn’t just for Luhan ge. You’re here for me also.” In that case, all Yixing really has to do is pack and heal Luhan. “What time should we leave then?” He looks down, and speaks Chinese in a low voice. Kris and Minseok widen their eyes and talk back. Yixing’s voice is calm as Kris cuts him off with an irritated tone. Minseok’s is… confusion I think. “Hey! We don’t speak Mandarin so would you mind explaining what this is all about?” I say before anyone else decides to talk again. “I am not coming.”   
“What?”

“I appreciate you bringing Luhan here to be healed but I am not going with you to god knows where.”   
“Don’t you understand that you could fade away?”

“Joonmyeon, I am a healer. I told you before I can heal myself.”

“You don’t know if you can heal yourself from that.”

“I am not leaving my home because of this. I’m not joining your Luxion.”

“You have no clue what you’re messing with not coming,” Kris stepped in, “There is more to this than just finding our Luxion. The world-”

“I’m not coming!” Yixing banged his palm on the table, he spoke again but calmly. “I will not uproot myself for this. I don't care what you want to take me for. I have a choice and I chose no.”

“Stop,” Chanyeol said, “He’s healing Lu for us the least we could do is respect what he wants guys. We'll leave tomorrow.” 

“Chanyeol!” Kris looked like he wanted to say more, but Chanyeol was firm on this. “I'm making this choice for us. No one is getting anywhere with arguing.” Minseok looked at his brother, both of them engaged in a conversation in their heads. “He's right. We can't make choices for people.” 

“Minseok come on! You both have blinders on when it comes to any choices with the two of you!” Kris walked out the door. Soon after, I heard flapping sounds and a soft  _ pat  _ on the roof. “He can fly.” I explain to Yixing who is looking up at the ceiling. “I am sorry I have caused this between you all, but I am still standing by what I said earlier.” 

“I understand. I'm just thankful we found you in time for you to help.” Yixing nodded in acknowledgment. “I noticed none of you brought any clothes and all Kris has is a small backpack so there are some in the first drawer of the rooms I'll show you to. They were my brother's, but I'm sure he won't mind. I shall wash your clothes and return them in the morning.” He leads us up the stairs to two rooms. “These are more like rooms for when I have many people to look after, two beds in each. If your friend- Kris - does come back, if you are awake please be sure to let him know. I will go back to Luhan now. Eat whatever you'd like in the fridge.” Yixing then goes back to where he was. 

We go into our rooms, and I try out talking on the link without Luhan being on it also.  _ “You guys are really okay with Yixing staying here?” _

_ “Of course not,”  _ It's Minseok's voice,  _ “But who are we to tell him how to live? He said it himself that he can heal himself. It's like being trapped.”  _

_ “So are we going to keep thinking about the sad shit-” _

_ “Language.” _

_ “Fine mom. Anyway as I was saying, let's not think about the sad  _ **_stuff_ ** _ and enjoy the good things. Like the fact we're in a frickin hidden mountain village! Movies like this I always wanted to live in when I was a kid.” _

_ “You're still a kid.”  _ I hear Chanyeol groan from the other room.  _ “Not you too, I thought it was only Kris's thing to ruin me. And both of you have yet to notice the balcony. Or enjoy the view on the said balcony.”  _ I walk out onto it, the little village is dark save for a few porch lights. I look out at the stretch of land in front of me all the way to where the trees block it off from the rest of the world. It's beautiful. I can understand why Chanyeol wanted to live somewhere like this, and why Yixing doesn't want to leave. 

Minseok and Chanyeol were already out here, they look tired. “Go to bed,” I tell them, “This isn't going anywhere.”

“We are though, I just wanna take it all in ya know? Before we leave.” Chanyeol takes a deep breath and exhales a small flame before smiling sadly. Minseok places a hand on his shoulder, “She'd be proud of you Yeol.” Chanyeol looks at him with a smile before going to back in. 

“They really do think he should stay huh?” It's Kris's voice from above me. I turn around and look up. I can kind of see him, a little hidden in shadows. “Well, we can't just force someone to come with us.” He moved his hand to the right, and I followed suit before he dropped down and perched on the edge of the balcony. His wings were folded but still out on his back as he looked out into the distance. “It's gonna mess shit up Joonmyeon, going against prophecies isn't easy. I checked the paper, his symbol isn't on it because he said no. Yixing said no so what do we do?” 

“You're a leader this is your thing.”

“So are you. They are fine with Yixing staying, but Luhan doesn't know that he isn't coming.”

“You and Lu are closer though. You talk a lot, in each other's heads. It's easy to notice from you. You've got a soft spot for him, why?” Kris repositioned himself to sitting on the bannister with his legs dangling over the edge. “His mom took a toll on him Myeon. I know what it feels like to be betrayed by someone you thought cared about you. And then…” He sighed and turned to me. “Look, I can sympathize with the guy alright? He’s gone through a lot, way more than he’s telling me. He can read our minds but we can’t read his. So far the only one of us that had a nice childhood all around was you.”

“You don’t know me, Kris. It’s not like that.” I’m an open book, for the most part, I’ll tell you what’s wrong if I feel bad. I have no problem talking about my feelings, but I know that my life as a kid has a giant dent in it. This thing that made the giant dent I don’t talk about, I try to forget it. “I’ll tell him,” Kris changes the subject and walks into the room with his wings retracting, I’m not far behind, “Hopefully he takes it well enough to where he doesn’t try and drag Yixing with us.” I hum in response. “Kris?”

“Yeah?” The words then decide not to come out of my throat as he looks at me expectantly. “Do you - Do you trust me? I know you told me earlier that you don’t really have trust in anyone, but...” I didn’t really know where I was going with that sentence and I hoped he knew. He looks me up and down for a moment as if deciding but I know he has the answer already. I just don’t know what it is. “Don’t get me wrong Joonmyeon, I’m closer to you than some people in Canada that I’ve known for a long time. I just can’t afford to trust you like I used to trust people. Don’t think it means I don’t have your back, I have faith in you. That should be enough.” 

We're both quiet and I believe we're thinking the same thing. Three out of four people have said yes. We have six left and what if they don't want to come with us? On top of that, we still have a Luxion member almost dying with no clue where he is. I put my trust in a Luxion that not everyone may want to be a part of. We're worried.  _ “Do you trust me Joonmyeon?”  _ I turn to Kris, who isn't looking at me but reading some papers (I'm guessing letters from his mother) as if he didn't just ask me the question. You could tell though when he was talking in his mind.  _ “I guess I don't really have a choice.” _

_ “Yes, you do. Everyone has a choice.” _

_ “I do trust you.”  _ Now he looks up at me.  _ “Why?” _

_ “I've spent like almost a month with you and you haven't pushed me out a window. Also, I think you can be trusted.”  _ He doesn't reply and I'm left wondering, where do we go from here?

 

* * *

 

Minseok knows where we go from here apparently. We're eating at the table in Yixing's room, Minseok being the only one not down yet. Luhan is quiet, Kris had told him that Yixing wasn't coming earlier today. Yixing isn't down here either, but I don't think much about it. I know Luhan doesn't have a strong handle on his powers when his emotions get in the way, and that isn't his fault, but it could be a problem when we get back to the city. Already some pots are scooting left or right, not by much but imagine if he does that with a  _ car _ . Minseok then comes down the stairs with a surprising amount of energy for someone who just woke up. “Guys I know where to go next! And I even know why we couldn’t feel anything,” He looked pretty proud of himself and continued talking, “The dude is here! Well not here directly but in Changsha. So why couldn’t we sense him you ask? Guess what, he wasn’t here! I mean not in this time period. He’s a time traveller! I saw him in my dream, I know what he looks like and everything. I don’t really know how often he travels, Kris has school started in China yet?” 

“Don’t look at me I may be Chinese but I spent practically 10 years in Canada I don’t remember when summer break ends.”

“Luhan do you know if people would still be on break?”   
_ “They are off for now. Luwen has yet to go back to school.”  _ A plant pot cracked slightly and I winced when he did it. “Luhan it’s okay,” Minseok said trying to help him, “People have rights.”

_ “But he is leaving us! Doesn’t he understand what is going on?”  _

“He may, but we still have other members to focus on”

_ “But then we aren’t complete! What happens then?”  _ He curls his fingers and three more pots cracked. “Luhan keep it together. You’re blowing out again.” Kris says.  _ “Let’s just go. Minseok you said you know where we need to find the time traveller?”  _ I sighed, my Luxion is back on its bullshit of holding feelings and dying sad and alone. Well, that’s an overstatement on the last part but you catch my drift. We clean up to the best of our abilities, we don't know where anything goes so we stack it up a little. Luhan was going to use his powers, but Minseok stops him.  _ “Use your hands.” _ Luhan dropped the floating plate into his hands. We walk out with Yixing walking towards us. “You are leaving?” 

“Minseok says he knows where he may be in Changsha. We're going.” Kris says. Yixing nods. “Luhan, how are you feeling? I think I got you to the best of health but you are okay? I mean are you okay?”

_ “Be better if I'd get my whole Luxion to come with us.”  _ Yixing sighed. “Luhan, I'm not coming.”

_ “What does this place have that you are so attached to that you can't even come with your own Luxion? Not even when it's your destiny?” _

“Safety and a home just to name a few.”

_ “You can't die!” _

“But the people here can! If I leave, sicknesses that I won't be around to heal will pop up. What if I return eventually and some of the people I knew are gone when I could've been here to take care of them?” Luhan didn't say anything back, he looked upset.  _ “Then stay.”  _ Yixing also looked remorseful, but he never said he was coming with us. I hoped we could get out of here and move on from Yixing because you could see from miles that Luhan was not taking this lightly. 

“If you need any help or a place to rest or heal I'm always here. I'm sure- I'm sure you know the path up ahead is out.” We walk with Chanyeol and Minseok giving goodbyes. I thought about saying something to Luhan about what he said, but I decided against it. He has a right to be mad, the rest of us are just as upset inside on it. What we need to focus on is finding the other boy before he flip flops through the timeline. 

We walk through the cave and back into the unprotected world. Coming out of Qiwen's shield I feel a faint pull, he's probably at the other end of the city. With Luhan healed and there were no people near us, we risk using our powers a little. Luhan moved things out of the way, even a few trees a little a ways out. “Hey! Wait!” There is a sound behind us and then a grunt. Out of the brush is Sicheng. His hair even messier than yesterday, mainly because he just fell. “What are you coming for?” I ask. “Well, I hear you are leaving to find Luxion member. So I want you to get down mountain as fast as possible, it is harder to come down quickly if it is first time. I will help.” He got in front of us and spread his hands to make a separate path down the mountain. Roots, random bumps, and yes again trees were moved or eaten by the path. (I mean one minute there was a whole patch of grass and then bam gone. And after we walked over it bam it was back, mildly disconcerting.) 

We made it down the mountain in about an hour. It takes me a second but I realize Sicheng is still following us. “Sicheng, you can go back now. We don't want to keep you from your home.” Chanyeol says. 

“I know,” Sicheng runs his arm and I noticed he had a small backpack on, “I'm looking. For my Luxion.”

“I thought you couldn't feel them?”

“I lie. I just hide in village. They can't feel you in Qiwen's bubble, but I feel them every day. I don't know really where they are but it's there. I would have Yixing ge heal me up every time I got hurt. I f-feel bad now because what if every time I went out of the bubble I hurt them?” We get quiet, this thing Sicheng told us means a lot to him. I want to ask how long he's been hiding from them, but that isn't my place. “You probably did,” Kris says and just before I could say something back to him he goes, “But now you can fix it. Come with us and we're going to find our member, maybe you can also find yours.” He smiled and bowed softly. “Thank you.” We kept going, getting to the middle of the city. 

The pull is strong, and I thought it would be some time before that happened since it's the summer. Then I remembered I'm the only person who stays inside during the summer. “He's here.” Kris says. I look around at the many of shops and buildings around and feel a little overwhelmed. “Okay, that's a lot of ground. Kris and Lu, you guys go to the right. Minseok and Yeol you can take up ahead. I'll go with Sicheng.” Chanyeol nodded and they go off and I go with Sicheng to the mall behind us. The mall is a cylinder shape with its floors seeming to never end. I hope he isn't in here, we may never find him. Sicheng is uncomfortable in the mall as we begin to walk up the floors to see if the pull gets any stronger anywhere specific, that's a given. He closes in on himself a little, and folds his arms close to his chest. “Not a big people person huh?”

“People not all bad. I just do not like new people.”

“You like us.” He gives a smile. “Yes, but you are Halliyun. Halliyun are good.” 

“Normal people are good too Sicheng, and I'm sure not all Halliyun are good. All people Halliyun or not have a choice to be good or bad. Believe me, I've met people with good intentions but bad actions.” I think under normal circumstances Sicheng wouldn't have said what he said, but right now he is nervous and on edge. He also spent his entire life near the same people and also he 100% knows what went on last night so it makes sense that this is what he said. “Yixing didn't make a bad choice!”

“What?” I was taken aback, I wasn't even referring to him. “That isn't what I-”

“I came with you because of my own choice the same way his was to stay!” 

“Sicheng calm down.”

“I-” He stopped and looked out the window. There were two boys running towards the smaller shopping center, and then I realized that it was Minseok and Chanyeol. Minseok spoke in my head.  _ “Joonmyeon!”  _

_ “I'm looking right at you guys, where are you going?” _

_ “Kris just said come here! I think something is wrong meet us there it could be Wasps!” _ I thought, then it hit me. “Luhan.” I say to Sicheng, and we're running back down as fast as possible.  _ “Lu! Lu are you okay?”  _ I get no reply. I'm still watching the windows as we run and we're almost down when we stop short. All four of them are running out, running towards us. Behind them are Wasps, four of them. I try to talk to Luhan again, but it's like static in his head. “Joonmyeon there are people here!” Sicheng exclaims, “What if we have to fight?” I do the only thing I can think of. “Everyone please get to the lower floor and leave! There are Wasps coming!” Now, the people aren't afraid of the Wasps, but where there are Wasps there are Halliyun. Immediately people begin to leave, and then panic ensues. Huh, who knew alerting people of a possible alien threat would cause screaming. 

We also go down to the final floor, but there are too many people flooding out that we can't see my members coming in.  _ “Hyung, I'm behind you!”  _ I turn and see Chanyeol coming towards us with two masks.  _ “Put it on!” _

_ “Why?” _

_ “They make your face unrecognizable on camera and things like that. Halliyun stuff is pretty neat. Come on! Let's get going, Kris found a back exit we can slip through.” _

_ “No can do,”  _ Kris comes to us, the ocean of people is getting smaller, we don't have much time,  _ “Wasps coming from the back also. Not many, but we're not getting out without using our powers.”  _ I groaned and pulled the mask over my face. I point to the stairs and we run up to the third floor to get away from them. Our sets of footsteps are loud as they echo in the now quiet mall  _ “Wait, where are Lu and Minseok?” _

_ “Luhan is right here and Minseok is…”  _ Kris looks around.  _ “Minseok!”  _ Chanyeol shoots over the link.  _ “Here. Down here. Don't come for me.”  _

_ “What?” _

_ “Wasps have me. I can't move my hands, I guess they found that I can't make ice from all over as you can. They're gonna use me as bait. I know it. Just figure out how to get out without me.”  _

_ “No,”  _ I think,  _ “We don't trade lives. We will get you just wait-”  _ Luhan lifts his hand and slowly two of the four Wasps are lifted to where we are. “What the hell?” One of them says. Luhan makes a fist, and they hit the wall behind them and drop to the ground. “Lu!” I shout at him. Those people were most definitely dead, and that wasn't what we wanted. We didn't aim to kill people. He wasn't listening to me though and jumped down. Kris ran and jumped, his wings sprouted and he went after Luhan.  _ “Stay!”  _ Kris thinks,  _ “Wasps are coming upstairs. You two stay!”  _

_ “No! We need to come down.”  _ Chanyeol thought.  _ “Yeol we will save him but he needs you to be okay too. Stop the ones from coming upstairs, and we'll stop them.”  _ Then I hear them coming. “Sicheng, hide.” The boy nods and runs off to behind a store desk. He is already beyond terrified, I'm not about to let him even be near a single Wasp.

”Ready Yeol?” He nods. His hands burst into flames and three Wasps came up first. He burned one and they grunted. I put my hand up and some water to put him out, but then pushed him back into a store and broke a coat rack from a store on accident. Yeol gasped as one of them grabbed him by the shirt collar and kicked them in the kneecap. He got him off and pushed him off the edge.  _ “I know we aren't aiming to kill anyone but still hyung!” _

_ “Do not aim to kill them, but you may have to.”  _ I slam a good amount of water onto the last one and he falls back down the stairs.  _ “Hey. Minseok hyung are you okay?” _

_ “They got me, I'm fine. We took care of downstairs. We need to go before more get here.”  _ Then I hear a muffled scream- there is a Wasp, and in his arms with a syringe pointed to his head was Sicheng. “Another move and I'll stab him.” 

“He doesn't have powers!” I lie. “But he does know you, and I'm sure you and your friends down there would hate to see something happen to him. So how about they come up here, and we work a little trade? Hands where I can see them when you do.” It also scares me that the Wasp can speak and understand Korean, I can't say anything to the rest of them now as if I knew what to do. There is panic in Sicheng's eyes, and I wish Luhan had put him on the link but Luhan isn't responding to anyone at all. It's like he's malfunctioning, he doesn't know what to do.

The three of them come up with their hands on their heads. Sicheng’s eyes grew wide and scared when he saw that none of us knew how to fix this on our terms. “Now we can make an easy deal. All he wants is the fire boy.” 

“Who is he and why does he want my brother?” Minseok says. “I don't need to answer to you, now a quick trade. I will give him to you when you give him to us.” We don't have time to make a decision, because suddenly a second Wasp punches him in his back and then gets him off of Sicheng. He gets punched back and grunts but gets him right back before kicking him with his right foot, enough for him to fall back. And then he hit him over the head with a fucking chair. I don't know if he knocked out, but the other Wasp then pushed him back down the stairs. 

This Wasp was tall, about Chanyeol's height. I was about ready to kill him, even if he helped us. He raised his hands to his helmet and took it off. We all then realized that he wasn't a Wasp.

Under that helmet, was a  _ kid. _

“Hey, I know you.” He said to Minseok. “Y-yeah. The dream?” He nodded. The boy was young, younger than Chanyeol and sharp eyes. “I'm Zitao but most people call me Tao, nice to meet you all- hey are you okay?” He looked at Sicheng, who was curled in a ball and shivering. I'm not going to blame him, I'd be in shock too. Then it's Luhan who goes to him.  _ “Lu?”  _ I try again, there is still static, but less than before. Very softly in my head I can make out  _ “Bad voices. I'm sorry.”  _ That's when I realize Luhan must've read a Wasp's mind, and blown out. I watch him hug Sicheng's crying form and Zitao puts his helmet back on. “Help him up, need to go before any Wasps come and ask for an ID from me. Then we'll go to my home and we'll talk, figure things out.” Sicheng mumbles something in Chinese that only Zitao and Luhan hears. “You don't speak Chinese?” He asks. “Chanyeol and I don't, he's the fire boy.” 

“Well he said he wants to go home, and that he is scared. And something about his Luxion but I couldn't hear him. Can any of you take him home?” For a literal child, he's a little intimidating. “He lives in the mountains, we aren't going to make it before dark and I don't think he wants to go that far at night.” Sicheng shakes his head quickly. 

“Okay. Then come with me. We're going to go to my house, my friend will pick us up.” We walk down the stairs, Kris is talking to Tao I watch his wings retract without a single cut in his shirt. We get away with being able to walk around and away from the mall by looking like some pedestrians being led away by a Wasp. When we get far enough to where we don't see the mall, there is a black van parked at a convenience store. “He's in there.” Tao pointed out. Sicheng stopped walking. “He… he is my Luxion.” I smile, “Go to him. At least have something good come out of today.” Sicheng went to the car first and knocked on the window. Immediately the driver hopped out and wrapped him in a hug. Tao laughed behind the helmet at Sicheng's confused and mildly uncomfortable face. “Yuta don't crush the guy!”  He let's go of Sicheng and apologizes to him. We get in the van with Tao in the passenger's seat and Sicheng still standing outside with Yuta. This time it's Sicheng who hugs him and takes Yuta by surprise. Tao takes off his helmet and sets it on the floor, “Yuta is touchy and loves everyone, you get used to it after some time. He won't be here long though, he needs to get back to his Luxion soon.”

“How many people are in his Luxion?” 

“As of now? 18 I think.”

“What!” Minseok exclaims, “And I thought having a grand total of 12 was going to be tiring. I'd hate to be that leader.” 

“Are you talking about my leader?” Yuta says when he gets in the driver's seat. “How do you manage a Luxion with 17 other people?” Sicheng's eyes widened. Yuta must've noticed through the mirror as he pulled out of the space. “It's okay. We um… we haven't even found all of them yet. You'd be our 5th member.”

“Only 5th? We have many need find.” Yuta shook his head, “Sorry I meant 15th. Most of us are young, you’d be part of the older ones. The Luxion is confusing, I'll explain it to you when we get back.” 

“Yuta how old are you?” 

“Hm?” He looks back at Kris who asked the question, “Oh I'm 16, I'll be 17 in October. I just decided if I'm going to be half illegal by birth I might as well learn to drive illegally here too. It won't take too long to get to Tao's place, he lives pretty close.” It takes us only a few more minutes for Yuta to pull up to a nice two-story house. There are a few people hanging outside around all of our ages save for a woman in the doorway. “I may have forgotten to mention that there are more people than just my mom and I here. Our house has kinda been a place for all Halliyun in China to stop and rest up. We like it like that, it's too quiet otherwise.” He smiles and gets out the car. We walk behind Tao and Yuta, who absolutely refuses to be more than a few steps from Sicheng. The woman comes up and hugs Tao before looking at all of us. “You must be his Luxion, Zitao had told me you all were coming. I just did not think you'd make this big an entrance. I saw the news and knew Tao was heading there, don't worry no one knows who you are. Come inside.” 

“Where did you get your hands on a Wasp uniform?” Minseok asked.

“Oh this? The 3% stole some of their stuff, we have a few for any coming Halliyun to use if they need to get their members out of situations.” Tao answered. We quickly introduced ourselves before I asked a question. “Ma'am, what is your power?” 

“I can adapt myself to the environment around me. Say I needed to get warmer, give me a few seconds and I'd raise my body temperature.” Sicheng's eyes lit up. “I'm your repeater, I think.” She smiled, “Really?” 

“Wait,” Chanyeol said, “I thought every Halliyun had a different power, like a fingerprint. And your power changes the land, not your body Sicheng.”

“A repeater isn't like a fingerprint, more like an identical twin. Repeaters are most of the time in different generations which explains why you are my repeater, but I did meet these two repeaters who were not only in the same generation but also had the exact same power to stretch. For the most part they are the same, but minor details change a few things. Are you also a part of Tao's Luxion?” Sicheng shook his head, “I am with Yuta.”

“Oh, well his Luxion seems to be getting bigger every day. It feels like their search for all of their members will never end.” Yuta tugs Sicheng over to the side with some other boys I'm assuming are his members. 

“Tao go get out of that outfit I don't like seeing you in it even for good causes. You all can talk in your room.” Tao leads us upstairs, there aren't any people up here, but on the doors are carved initials. One door had “N.Y was here” and then “L.T.Y was here first” above it. We walk to the only room without any engravings. Tao opens the door. It is a small room but it fits all six of us. Luhan, Minseok, and Chanyeol all sat on the bed. Tao goes into his closet. “So,” He calls from inside, “How long have you been looking for us?” 

“About a month,” I reply, “Kris may have been looking a little longer.” 

“Kris is the blonde leader one with the eyebrows right?” 

“Yeah,” Kris says.  _ “What does he mean with my eyebrows?” _

_ “Kris your eyebrows are fine. They're just prominent.”  _

_ “Is that a bad thing?”  _ I shake my head.  _ “They make you look mean.”  _ Chanyeol says, not helping at all.  _ “I look that mean?”  _ None of us says anything back, and we're saved by Zitao walking out of his closet wearing normal clothes again. “So, Luhan… doesn't talk right?” He asked sitting on the other side of the bed.frickinkhe doesn't talk out loud.”

_ “I talk like this.”  _ Tao shrieked and fell off the bed. “What the hell?” Chanyeol gave me a look. “What?”

“You're not going to say ‘language’ to him?”

“Hell isn't a bad word.” 

“And shit is just poop!” 

“No.” Chanyeol waved his hands at Tao. “But he's- he's younger than me!” 

“He can't say it either.” Tao gave me a deadpan look. “Don't tell me you're going to make me watch my mouth. And how do you know you're older than me?” 

_ “How old are you Tao?”  _ Tao stifled a second shriek. “Is that how he talks?” 

_ “Yes.”  _

“That's scary.” Luhan just smiled. “Do you have a symbol Tao?” Minseok asks. He nods and gets up. He walks to a dresser and pulls his out. It's the most simple one so far; an hourglass with a circle at the top above the sand. “I think my parents gave this to me, I don't know. I just never let it go. And to answer your question, I'm 14.” I saw Chanyeol smile and look back at me. “Ha! He's a kid!”

“You're also a kid,” Kris says. “I may stop calling you a kid when you turn 16 whenever that is.”

“November 22nd thank you very much.” 

“Moving on,” I say a little loudly, “Do you have a bag or something you can put things in to take when we leave?” 

“Yeah. I've been packed for a week or so. I felt the pull but I couldn't go to it because I didn't have a good idea on where exactly you were.” 

“You didn't have to, we have no idea where we're going next.” 

“I do,” We look at Kris, “Back to Korea. A place called Daejeon?” 

“How long have you- it doesn't matter. We're not going today anyway.” 

“So tomorrow's then?” I spare a glance at Luhan, who is looking down at the ground. “No. The day after.”

“Wait no. We can't afford to be here longer than we need to be. They're going to look for us.”

“They don't know what we look like.”

“That doesn't matter!” I sigh, I have a point I'm trying to make, but it won't get across well. Mainly because if I bring it up it'll offend someone. “Kris, can we talk outside?” It wasn't really a question. “Room down the hall is empty, just lock the door.” Tao says quietly. I grab Kris's wrist and we go to the room. He practically throws me off when we close the door. “Don't touch me like that ever again. I'm not a fucking dog who needs to be lead around.” 

“I wouldn't have to if I knew you'd come with me like how I thought I'd know if you knew where to go. How long have you known?”

“Relax not long. Since last night, I was going to tell you but Minseok had brought up finding Tao.”

“Still would it kill you to have told me? I would've saved it in the back of my mind for later.”

“What good would that be? You're obviously tired and thinking about another member would've slowed you down today.”

“Yeah, sure. Anything else you've been hiding from us?” His eyes narrowed, but I could care less on whatever is going through his head. He hid important things from us, from  _ me. _ “Nothing comes to mind Joonmyeon.” He says my name a certain way that really pisses me off. “And for someone so angry with me not telling them about a Luxion member you really are taking your time on finding him. What's that about?”

“It's not because I want to. It's because of Luhan.”

“What about him?”

“He's… unstable. He wasn't responding to anyone and his emotions are out of whack.” 

“Luhan is fine.” I ran my hands through my hair and looked at him, “Are you serious right now?”

“Completely.”

“Luhan is  _ not  _ fine! He's going through so much how can you even say he is okay enough to do this?”

“Did you ask him? How do you know he isn't capable?” 

“That's not-” I have to take a step back and a breath before I say or do something I may regret. “That's not the point! I am not throwing him back into another fight for someone's life!” Kris didn't have words to say back then. “Fine. We leave in two days. Not three, two.” Kris walked out. “You know I'm right!” I call after him, “You just don't care about any of us enough!” 

“I do care! But somewhere out there a boy is sick and probably fading. You think you're helping him by keeping him away but if this is what he does when a member doesn't follow imagine what he does when one  _ dies.  _ But hey, your call not mine. After all, I'm just the second leader.” I sit on the bed, just now noticing it's a bunk bed. There isn't anything in the room, so I guess no one is staying in it.  _ “Lu?”  _ Silence but not static.  _ “Yes?” _

_ “I'm going to go back to the hotel, Tao does not have enough space for all of us. Maybe only two.”   _

_ “I shall let the others know. I believe Kris isn't in the mood for leaving. He walked right past us cursing about something. I think he should stay. Other than that it's been nice talking with Tao. Did you know he does Wushu? I used to watch matches when I was little, I loved it almost as much as I love football-” _

_ “Lu, you're going to stay behind too. You and Kris okay?”  _

_ “I have to stay? But why me?”  _

_ “You trust Kris right?”  _ I ask, avoiding the question.  _ “Under the highly unlikely chance that something does go wrong, he'll be with you.”  _

_ “Okay Myeon. You take the siblings, it's nicer like this anyway. Some of us stay so that Tao doesn't think we're doing this just because if we don't we die. Besides, he's nice to talk to and a good kid.” _

_ “Alright then. I'll be in the room in a sec.”  _ I run my hands through my hair again. I didn’t like lying to him, but I didn’t trust him with the truth. Wait… I don’t trust him? Oh god, I don’t. The fact I don't trust Luhan gives me bad vibes, it makes me feel too much like Kris. I want to shake it off but I can't. 

I walk back in the room, Kris still isn't there.  _ “I let them know, they're ready.”  _

“I'm still a little weirded out that he talks in my head,” Tao says, “I mean what if I just hear him and think I'm going crazy?” 

_ “Hotdogs, I want hotdogs.”  _ Chanyeol wailed like a ghost on the link. “Oh come on! He let's all of you do it?”

“You can do it too.” Tao shakes his head. “Absolutely not. Never ever. That's that creepy shi- crap that I'm not even going to try.” I gave a small smile at the save. “We should get going now, it's time we get back and find something to eat.” 

“You don't have to! It's Yuta and his Luxion's last day so you can join us for dinner!” Tao's eyes lit up at the propositions, and then dimmed. “I mean only if you want to. More food for me if you don't.” I look at Chanyeol and Minseok, the vote was unanimous. “We'll stay.” 

 

* * *

The dinner was delicious to say the least. Tao's mother cooked so much and everything was amazing. Yuta's Luxion is named NCT we learned, and we watched Sicheng damn near faint when he heard that their Luxion has infinite members. There were six others not counting Yuta that were staying. I don't remember all their names but one was named Mark and he was from Canada. I remember this because he and Kris (who did join us for dinner) started talking in English for some time. He looked even younger than Tao, and when I asked he said he was 12.  _ 12\.  _ I can't imagine giving up my childhood at that age, much less to people I don't know.

When we got back to the hotel I decided I didn’t want to stay inside, I grabbed everyone’s dirty clothes with some money and headed to the nearest laundromat. (I wore my mask, don’t really.) It wasn’t hard to find even with my lack of Chinese skills. They’re the only places with washing machines on the inside. There is a small one about two blocks away, it was quiet and only the cashier was in there with me while I put on the spin cycle. I could barely see inside with the place’s windows covered by black blinds, my only knowledge was that there was a blinking sign with clothes and bubbles on it. I almost missed it since the black blinds were pulled down, my only clarification was a blinking sign with a shirt and some bubbles around it. The cashier was a kind looking old man. “Most people sing in here you know,” He said, “There are no cameras, so they tend to even crack certain types of jokes.”

“Hm.” I learn against the rumbling machine. “You know, you look very familiar,” The man’s face began to change as he walked from behind the register. He suddenly didn’t look as friendly, “I believe you were the boy on the news. The one with the fire boy on the side.” He can’t know that it wasn’t visible on the news. We saw the footage, we weren’t seen. Which means he was there. “What do you want him for?”

“I do not answer to you. He told us to get him and that’s what we’ll do even if it means killing the Halliyun that get in his way.” I had questions that I was pretty sure I was not going to get an answer to. The old man began to change, he began to shapeshift into a… a something. He grew taller and became a grey creature with small horns and claws, his shoulder blades poking out of his skin. 

I don’t have time to react when he lunges at me .” I had questions that probably wouldn't be answered. The man began to change. His skin turned grey and he grew small horns with his shoulder blades poking out of his skin. I didn't have time to react, he had already pushed me to the ground. I hit the ground and felt the pain shoot into my back. His hand is on my throat, but not fully choking me. “I thought- I thought the Wasps were controlled by Halliyun without powers.” I gasp. “Little fool!” He presses harder and his sharp nails dig into my skin, if I had enough air I would have screamed. “They may have a plan but we realized they were right! The idiots we had in place on our planet turned it to ruins. I do not want to kill you, join us and we can fix Halliyun. Get rid of these humans, they do not love us.” He lets go of my throat and I finally get enough air in my lungs. With that, I move my hand and a washing machine bursts and hits him full force. I get up and let the water come near me. It doesn't fully heal me, but it gives me some of my energy back and the pain from those marks goes away. “My mother is a human, and she loves me.”

“But that is one person, on Halliyun everyone will love you.” 

“She's enough for me.” I raise my hand and a wave of soapy bubble water crashes down on him. I'm very happy that isn't the washer with our clothes. I go to the door and I find it locked. I curse under my breath. He laughs. “Did you really think I'm stupid? There is a lock button under the counter I clicked the moment you arrived. Now we can finish this, and I will soon be on to take your friends.” He is walking towards me, but I'm not as afraid as before. This is my playground. Four other full washing machines not counting the one our clothes are in. “If you really wanted to take me down quickly, you should've picked a better place.”

“I love the thrill of the chase. A fight that is hard but I'll still come out on-” I smacked him with a ton of water. I swear, evil people talk too much. 

I hear the door open, and have a hand up when I see that it's Chanyeol and Minseok. “I melted the lock, I knew there was a reason you took too long with the clothes.” The younger says. I give a half smile under my mask. “Mind if I finish this off?” Minseok asks. I shake my head, he could be my guest. I have a good hold on the water, but I've never held this much at once. It was tiring to keep so much focus on this. Minseok took off his right glove and touched the water. He was going to freeze it when a hand came out and grabbed his. He shouted before being pulled into the water. I stopped immediately, and he threw Minseok back. “You’re weak,” He hissed at me, “You would rather save him than kill me. I know their faces now, you won’t be safe.”   
“I don’t trade lives, and we can still kill you.”

“It doesn’t matter, you won’t win. Halliyun will be alive again.”

“Halliyun is dead!” Chanyeol shouted out. “And you killed it!”

“Maybe so, but this planet will be our key to bringing it back to life.” Chanyeol’s hand lit up, and Minseok made a ball of ice around the flame. Minseok threw it at him, and his eyes narrowed at the Halliyun freezing and then burning as he turned to ash. “Wow,” I say in shock, “You two have a power move.” Chanyeol smiled and nodded, “I’ve never heard anyone call it that.”

“What did you call it?”

“Nothing, we never had to use it before.” 

“We did it wrong,” Minseok said, “It normally blows up but we didn’t have enough time.”

“I’d hate to make you mad enough to do that one.” Minseok laughed and I grabbed our clothes and put them in the dryer. “Are we gonna talk about it?”

“Not now,” I tell the oldest, “We can talk about it tomorrow, with everyone. We need to figure out what this means.”

“Halliyun is dead, you can’t bring things back to life. And what in the world do they want my little brother for?” I looked at Chanyeol, he didn’t seem to have anything they could use. He was too hot-headed to let anyone control him. “Hyung, what happened to you?” He asked, and I remembered the marks in my neck. “I’ll be fine, they don’t even hurt anymore.” Minseok doesn't seem so sure. “Do you want to go to Yixing's tomorrow and get it healed?”

“I would but Lu would ask where we're going and I can't lie to him. None of us can handle a repeat of today. I'll be fine, just smack some band-aids on my neck.” I take the clothes out the dryer and place them in the bag I brought with me. We walk back to the hotel. If I'm being completely honest, I was scared out of my mind the whole time. Let's hope it didn't show.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I was late! I had to attend so much this afternoon and went to a play this evening I'll try to be better! Comments and such are always appreciated, if you have thoughts or just something to say I'd love to hear it!


	16. Luhan is Mistaken for a Demon for Five Minutes

So listen, we did not at all expect to end up end up in a Catholic church having to fight for some lives and then shoved into a magical washing machine. 

Our extra day is spent like a normal day if you're part of a normal family living a normal life. It was nice and enjoyable. Ms. Huang sent us out with Tao to buy groceries which took forever (mainly on part that Luhan just wanted to eat every sample and wanted to buy everything in the chips aisle. However, he would not leave until we bought him a Ronaldo jersey that he wore immediately as soon as he could) and we bought a shit ton of stuff. I don't know what job she has to keep paying for that house and what's stocked but I want it. 

We spend most of the day being happy but later that evening we get to the serious stuff, like what happened the night before. I, Minseok, and Chanyeol explained what went down when we washed our clothes. Tao, Kris, and Luhan’s faces were on edge, they were guilty. As if the stack of bandaids they put on my neck weren’t enough to show their worry. “You can’t blame yourself,” I say, “You didn’t know, none of us did.”

“But I should’ve been there if any of us were there you would have not gotten hurt,” Kris said right back, picking at the food Ms. Huang had laid out for us. “Yeah,” Tao piped up, “Why did we stay today? This wouldn’t have happened if we had.” The guilt then washed over  _ me. _ I mean nothing happened to anyone else outside of myself, but I risked them being discovered. “I’m sorry,” I look down at the table, “I thought we could all use a break. We’ve been running around for the past few days and I didn’t think anything bad would happen. You were right.” I aim my last sentence at Kris.  _ “I enjoyed the break. Despite yesterday’s events today was enjoyable. You all do realize this is the most time I’ve spent out of my house ever, so any chance at enjoying things I missed is good for me.”  _

“Yeah,” Minseok agreed, “Chanyeol and I spent our lives in the ‘Circus of the World’ suffering and thinking that would always be how it is. We never got to experience little things like shopping or going to the movies or even frozen yogurt. Today was fun, and I liked it.”

_ “You did well.”  _ Kris tells me over the link, just me and him. I give a small smile, things said over the link are things for only us to talk and know about. So I start first.  _ “I’m sorry for yelling.” _

_ “I was being an asshole to you.” _

_ “You meant well.” _

_ “Not an excuse.”  _ He was right.  _ “You were trying to look out for us Kris.” _

_ “I should still listen to you, you’re the leader.” _

_ “So are you.” _

_ “Not as much as you are.”  _ I didn’t understand what he meant by that, and I looked over at him.  _ “I’ll tell you later.  _ Now onto the important things. Number one; why do they want Chanyeol and two; what did he tell you guys before you iced then pulled a Thanos on him?”

“He said the Wasps were going to use Earth as a way to bring Halliyun back, that it was the key to doing so.” Minseok said. “But how can that happen? You can’t bring dead things back to life.” Kris asked. I shrugged, I was stumped. We ate in silence before Chanyeol’s ears burst into flames. Tao jumped in his seat when he saw and I quickly put them off. “I’ve got a guess on what they might do, but you’re not going to like it.” We waited for him to continue, but he looked nervous. Then he looked at Luhan, so I guess they were talking. “They may want to use us,” Chanyeol started, “I mean look they were coming after me. On top of that, what is our Luxion? Keys guys, we’re the key to find the final Gasa but what if we’re the key to something else too? Or worse, we get the Gasa and it ends up with them. No one knows what the three Gasas do when they are all together…”

“In the wrong hands, you think they could end the world?” Kris finished for him. Chanyeol nodded.  _ “They can’t,”  _ Luhan said,  _ “I called Dara once, it turns out we can communicate like this over the phone. But only like that since I’ve never seen her. She told me that even out together the Gasas can’t cause total destruction to a planet, much less one so much like Halliyun. I don’t know what they can really do other than transfer energy.”  _

“Luhan! That’s what they’re going to do! Try to take power from Earth to Halliyun!” Tao says. “But how is that even possible?” I ask, “You'd need an energy source so wild and big, like the power of the sun or even more.” 

_ “And what is the sun? A big ball of gas and fire. Chanyeol is literally fire.”  _ Luhan was right. “New plan we look out for Chanyeol even more. We don’t risk anything alright? But still, it's just him and he definitely is not the sun.” Kris was firm and it wasn’t a bad idea in the slightest. “Let’s stop talking about this, about me.” Chanyeol suddenly got up and went upstairs. Minseok quickly followed and sent a look to Kris, who just sighed.  _ “They depend too much on one another. If anything happens to one of them the other would do anything for them.”  _ Luhan told Tao. “Yeol will be fine they just overreact sometimes. They’re like that, the smallest thing can make them pissed at anyone else but they are just looking out for each other.” 

“Still they need to learn to live without always being around each other. What are the odds of people who need to be away ending up in the same Luxion.” Kris says.  _ “You know, we could stop risking them hearing us.”  _ Luhan says referring to Tao who refuses to do anything but listen on the link. “I refuse to do that mind thingy. No way could you make me. I don't like it when you're in my head like that. Anyway, I've had these two girls come through when I was 12 or so. They were both from Halliyun and had PTSD, they were so attached to one another that neither of them wanted to go to their Luxions even when they could feel them because they were far apart. They hid here for some time, they never caused any trouble but still, they needed to leave or they'd get hurt. After a while, I realized that they needed help. They were afraid of separation because it would mean they could get hurt and not be able to protect each other. It took time, but eventually they found their Luxions and learned to be apart. Keyword learned. And they didn't do it alone. Chanyeol and Minseok are similar, maybe they didn't fall from Halliyun but they have baggage that they don't trust with anyone else. We've just gotta help them.” 

“You can't help people that don't want help Tao.” Kris said. “You can, just figure out how.” Chanyeol and Minseok came down after that with their bags. “We all ready to get out of here?” We nodded at Minseok and got up to leave. Then Tao wrote something on a sticky note then pulled out his phone. It didn't sound like anyone picked up, I think he left a voicemail. Whatever he said was in Chinese and enough to make Minseok and Luhan sad and Kris look to the ground. He hung up the phone and turned back to us. “Don't feel bad, it was just precautions.” That's when I realize that he probably told her something about him never coming back. “Tao, we're coming back.”

“You don't know that Joonmyeon, don't give me that hope.” It made me sad to know that he thinks that way. What did he go through? 

We get to the airport about an hour before the flight around four with no complications of gloves thanks to Chanyeol's amazing acting skills. When we go to sit down Chanyeol digs through my bag and pulls out some won. “I'm going to buy a soda, anyone want anything?” 

“Whatever you get I'll share with you.” Minseok said. “Sprite.” Tao and Kris say. “I don't want anything.” 

_ “Apple Juice.”  _ Chanyeol gives Luhan a weird look and shrugs. The grabs Minseok and both of them get in line. No one pays them much attention until I hear a very gruff voice say, “Hey you!” I turn to where the siblings are and see a Wasp without a helmet, and he's holding Minseok's glove-

 

We get to the airport about an hour before the flight around four with no complications of gloves thanks to Chanyeol's amazing acting skills. When we go to sit down Chanyeol digs through my bag and pulls out some won. “I'm going to buy a soda, anyone want anything?” 

“No,” Tao says, “You can't go there.” 

“Why?” 

“If you do there will be complications. There is a Wasp sitting over there but we can't see him from here. If you're going to buy drinks go get them from a different place or don't take Minseok with you.” 

“How did you know I was going to - oh. This already happened huh?” Tao nodded. “How many other things have happened that you’ve changed?”

“Just that today. I can only use 12 a day, but they roll over so I have thousands in the bag. I normally only travel back to places that I wasn’t born in. Like for history projects for example.” 

“What about when you mess up?” I ask, “Do you ever go back and fix them?”   
“Nothing big. I spill a glass, sure why not. Big things I rarely change, I could rip a hole in time doing something like that. Too many factors, too many people affected by my one mistake that I’d have to let it play out even if I don’t want it to.”

“That’s way nicer than me,” Kris remarks, ‘I’d just do it anyway.”

“Not if you get stuck in a broken wormhole for so long you’re age screwed up. I’m actually 15 but because I ruined a timeline by changing things I shouldn't have, I got myself put a year younger.” I couldn’t even begin to fathom what it felt like living in a warped world. “Do you want us to call you 15?” He nods and smiles at me, “I know it’s just a number but it means something to me. I mean, there isn’t much I can do about it now but learn from my mistakes.” 

_ “That’s good, never let mistakes be the end of you.”  _ In a way, I think all of us took that to heart. 

 

**(ADD LINE HERE)**

 

We should’ve bought umbrellas. It was pouring down buckets when we got to Daejeon. For me it wasn’t bad since I’m always dry but everyone else (especially Minseok) looked like wet cats. I sent Luhan to go get us some, and he came back asking for a cat.  _ “But the lady working showed me pictures of little cats and dogs all sad and cold looking! The least I could do was give her the change!” _

“And that’s all we’re gonna do.” Kris pulled him under the umbrella.  _ “That’s no fair!” _

“Luhan, you know we can’t keep pets.” I tell him. “Yeah, and when this is all over we can get back to Sunmi the second and then think about cats.” Chanyeol said. “Who’s Sunmi the second?”

“My elephant. We shrunk her so now she’s the size of a corn chip.”

“Oh.” Little does Tao know, this is going to get way weirder than a tiny elephant.

We take a bus to a hotel and keep riding it and we realize we forgot to check in to any hotel. The longer we ride, the stronger the pull gets. But the towns progressively get a little shadier. It’s no doubt this is where we should be, however, we all hope it’s a mistake. We get off and look around. It’s not bad entirely, but at the same time you just  _ know  _ this is not someplace you want to live. The apartments are squished and placed together as if in a hurry and without much care. I’m cautious, each step feels like a wrong move could cause a tremor. “I’ve seen worse,” Tao looks up to the sky which is no longer raining but beginning to show signs of night, “But I’ve also seen much better. This is not somewhere I want to stay at night. Let’s find him, get the hell out, and move on.” 

_ “Agreed.”  _ We walk down a couple streets in mostly silence, letting our minds do the talking. The only speaking coming from Tao, and even that is in small whispers mostly in Chinese with Luhan translating. The people give us side looks, some of them even threatening. One kid makes eye contact with Tao, who doesn’t waver his own stance. “What are you lookin at?”

“Stop looking back.” Tao was quick to reply, and I don’t really want to hear what else that kid wants to throw at him. Neither does Kris it seems and he steps in front of Tao and the boy as a small group of people are gathering behind him. “We aren’t here for trouble we just want to get through.” 

“Then get gone before you find some.”

“It would be a lot easier if you would let us through.” Chanyeol said under his breath. “What was that?” Of course someone had to hear him. “I said we’d appreciate if you moved your asses and let us through!” 

“Chanyeol shut up!” I say in time with Minseok. The person who I’m assuming heard Chanyeol moved to the front. He was wearing a white T-shirt with black jeans. He was almost as tall as Chanyeol but looked stronger. His eyes flicked to Luhan, who was behind Minseok avoiding any eye contact. “And what about him? The only one smart enough to keep his mouth shut, he has anything to say?”

“He doesn't talk.” I answer. The group laughs. “So he's a mute huh?” 

“And what about it?” Kris said. “Nothing, it just makes sense for a  _ jjanggae  _ to be like that.” We all go dead silent. Even his own group doesn't back him up. I should've seen it coming, but none of us could stop Kris from swinging so fast and so hard at the man's face. I grab his arm and held him back before he could make another move again. The group held onto their own as he held his nose and cursed under his breath. He was bleeding, it may have been broken. “You son of a-”

“That’s quite enough of that!” A voice from beside us brings everyone to a standstill. A man in all black save for a white tab at his collar walks up to us. His tired eyes seem to tell me that this is not a new occurrence for him, but the warmth in them says that he knows what he's doing also. I may not be anywhere near this faith but I am smart enough to know a priest when I see one. I guess they really do try to fix the people even if they don't want to be fixed. He has grey hair with chain glasses around his neck and dressed from head to toe in black. 

“I tolerate many things near the church but fighting is certainly not one of them. Picking fights with someone you have yet to meet?” They listen, but that boy that Kris hit seems to be paying the least amount of attention. “If they bother you so much I shall take them and then make sure you do not need to cross paths with them again.” He beckons us to come with him, and we follow because an angry group is something we don’t want to deal with.  _ “Did you hear them Joonmyeon?”  _ Chanyeol asked.  _ “No what did they say?” _ _  
_ _ “That we’re lucky that he found us or we wouldn’t last here tonight.”  _ I felt a chill run down my back. “I am very sorry for them, I apologize on behalf of their actions.”

“It’s okay,” Tao says to the priest, “There is always Daegu.”

“There is always Daegu,” He agreed. “I am Father Daniel, I do believe I know who you are looking for.”   
“You do?” Kris raised an eyebrow. “There are few reasons outsiders come here, and boys I am sure you will be happy about who you see. He's been waiting for quite some time.” We got to the church. Before Father Daniel could even open the door it was thrown open with a loud and slightly high voice go, “Are they here?” The boy was looking at all of us. “Jongdae, would I bring in a different group of six random boys on any other occasion?”

“Yes- I mean no.” We walk into the seemingly small church but it looks as if Sicheng had used his power on it. The place seemed small but was big enough. “I’ll leave you to them.” The priest walks off and behind a door. “I'm Jongdae. I uh, live here. I have a room, we can go back there.”

_ “You look like Tadashi from Big Hero Six.”  _ Jongdae lets out an almost ear-piercing screech when he hears Luhan. “What was that?” 

_ “Me.” _

“That does not help! Oh no, I'm talking to a demon!” 

“It's not a demon Jongdae. It's just Luhan,” I point to the said boy, “I'm Joonmyeon one of your leaders. That's Kris and next to him is Tao, and the boy with long hair is Chanyeol and Minseok with the gloves is his older brother. Luhan can't talk but he can talk in minds and can read them.”

_ “And move objects. You forgot my one good power.” _

“Can I see?” Luhan smiled and barely moved a finger slightly and moved the necklace off of Jongdae's neck. He smiled and grabbed the necklace out of the air, I noticed that it was a pendant that our Luxion seems to be following the same types of structures. “That's so cool. I can do things like this.” Jongdae spreads his fingers and little amounts of electricity flows through his skin and then to the tips of fingers give sparks. “Very important question though, can you charge phones?” Chanyeol asked. “Of course.” Chanyeol smiled and held out his burn phone that looked almost dead. In a second it was back at 100% and Tao did the same with his normal phone. “Why do you carry burn phones?”

“Because if we're found, they could check our phones and then our families could be in trouble. Tao just hasn't switched. Also, Chanyeol and Minseok never had phones.” Kris said. “You don't have to do that you know. For the amount of time Halliyun have been here they know almost nothing about us.”

“I don't think that's quite true, we learned that there are evil Halliyun and they wanna end the world and we're the only ones that can stop them.” Jongdae's eyes grew. “Cool! But there's something you should know about me.” He sat on his bed, as if he didn't want to. “You can tell us anything. It's better this way than having us find out in a bad situation.” I tell him. “I don't kill people.”

“That's fine, we don't try to either.”

“That's not all. I don't fight cause it's against my principles, or use my powers in large portions anymore. I don't want to hold back any of this world-saving business.” That was a mild problem. We've spent the last few days fighting, it seems that we can't avoid it for long. _“We'd rather have you near us, by our side than anything. You don't fight so be it, we can protect you. We aren't losing another member.”_ Luhan told him, and he smiled. “I can help in any other way possible.” Suddenly a girl about our age came in his room with a panicked face. “Jongdae, you and your friends need to leave. They're coming and I don't think we can talk them out this time!” He immediately stands up and grabs his bag and ushers out of the room. “Umji let's go!” The girl didn't follow us to the back exit, also I had no clue what we were running from. “Umji?” Jongdae looked back on the girl. “Your Luxion is here for you, I'm done moving around and I'll let them find me. You run, I'll stay.” 

“You're not a fighter. Your powers don't even hold like a fighting set.”

“Ours do,” Chanyeol spoke up. “We can fight, but what are we fighting?”

“Remember that guy one of you punched? Well he has friends, friends that don't like that this church believes that Halliyun are not the enemy. They don't know that you are Halliyun, but they do know that we support them. They normally harass us, but his time they're coming and I don't think we will still be standing after this if we don't do something.”

“Where is-”

“Right here.” Father Daniel was walking down the hallway. “Nice to see you've met my daughter Yewon, or as Jongdae has been calling her by her Halliyun name- Umji.” There is no time to think about Halliyun names (even though I want one now) as I can actually hear people pounding on the doors. “We'll burn this place to the ground with you in it if we have to!” A voice yells. “Yewon, the washing machine.”

“No time dad!” 

“We can buy some.” I don't know how a washing machine is important as of the time being, but it must be considering that is the first thing they decide to think about at this time of our possible demise. Kris tosses me a mask and gives one to Jongdae. “You two get the washing machine ready for whatever reason you need to and we will hold them off.” 

“No killing.” Jongdae tells Kris. He rolls his eyes but nods. “None on purpose.” We run to the front of the church and I gulp. Some of them have guns. I realized Wasps never carry guns. Luhan took care of those with the wave of two fingers they were up in the air and broken as they fell back down. They charged at us then.  _ “Chanyeol don't burn anything.”  _

_ “You'll just put it out right?” _

_ “I guess I could call upon the rest of the toilet water.”  _ Tao must be trained in martial arts very well because I haven't seen him take a single hit once. I, however, have taken four. None too hard but still, ow. Jongdae is near me and ducked when someone swung at him before Kris kicked him to the right. “Joonmyeon how do I do the talking thing?”

“Just talk but in your head. Say what you want- umph!” I get distracted by Jongdae and I double over after being punched in the stomach. “Myeon!” I hear Minseok yell and Kris turns to me, almost throws someone off that was trying to get him and helps me stand. I've never been hit that hard.  _ “I… I am going to turn off all the lights please get to the hallways.”  _ Jongdae says and we do as he says.  _ “Are you okay?”  _ Kris asks still holding me up when suddenly the lights shut out. “What the hell?”

_ “Can I scare them to buy us time?”  _ Luhan asked.  _ “Doesn't it hurt you to be in so many heads at once?”  _

_ “Yes. But we need the advantage. You can't tell me no because I'll do it anyway.”  _ I knew he would. As Jongdae guides us to the very important washing machine with Chanyeol lighting the way I hear Luhan.  _ “Get out. Get out or never leave.” _

“Holy shit! I did not come here for talking ghosts!” I feel like it shouldn't have worked, but in almost every single horror movie church demons are the worst. I hear them run and leave before one says, “We should call the Wasps.”

_ “Do you want to die?” _

“Not calling the Wasps!” Not even a full second later I hear windows shatter and the screaming from outside getting farther away. Luhan used too much power. “Minseok take care of Luhan, you know he'll either knock out or knock us out.” Kris says. “I can walk on my own now.” Kris seemed to have forgotten he was helping me and let go. We get to the room with the almighty washing machine that looks mostly like a normal washing machine. “My power is to make portals I guess. Anything with a door can immediately become an entryway to somewhere else, just think about where you want to go and then,” Umji snapped her fingers, “You're there. Be specific about it, you can't just think about a city because you could end up on the other side of the city when you want to be somewhere else. The washing machine is an open portal that's the easiest to manage. Whoever is first should think of the place and everyone else should think something along the lines of “wherever insert name here is”. Got it?” We nod. Jongdae opens it and it looks like the galaxy threw up in there. It's black and purple with stars and swirls and really does look like the galaxy threw up a lot in there. He hopes in from the top and disappears. Kris goes in after him, then Chanyeol. Minseok helped an almost unconscious Luhan and they went in together. I look back at Umji and her father. “You're going to be okay?” She nods. “If they do call the Wasps, I'll leave early on. Don't worry about us, worry about Jongdae. There are only two things he's afraid of. Using his powers, and being lost. Don't lose him, we lost him once, but not the way you think we did.”

“If we lose him, how do we find him?”

“You don't lose him.” I sigh knowing there was no clear answer, but now I have no clue how to not lose him? “Thank you.” I jump into the portal. It was bright and I closed my eyes and almost shouted when I went in. I ended up with portal in my mouth and it tasted like a Milky Way so I'm not that mad.

I come out the other side 30 seconds later in a parking lot. Yep, not even in a building we ended up in an empty parking lot. “I hate to be the one to make references, but I don't think we're in Daejeon anymore.” Minseok said. He was sitting on the gravel, Luhan was sleeping on him. Maybe the space portal played tricks on my head but it looked like he had been crying. “I just thought take us to where our nearest Luxion member was and then I was here.” Suddenly his hair began to stand up and his irises turned into sparks. He fell and Kris to grab him but he was shocked and was blasted a little back. I tried to go to him but he yelled, “Don't touch me!” I backed away. “Jongdae tell us what's wrong.” 

“Joonmyeon there's a reason I don't use my powers. I hurt people. I'm overcharged and I need to let it out. There's too much water in the air and around, I could hurt you. I don't want to hurt any more people. Maybe if it hadn't rained this would be different but it did.”

“If you don't then you will definitely hurt yourself. Let me take care of the water, it's my specialty.” I took a large breath and thought hard. I thought of all of the water near any of us.  _ Stop.  _ I think.  _ No electricity, none touch us.  _ I've never used my powers like this, never tapped into them. I just do things without caution or anything but I have learned over the time I've been in this Luxion if you want to do the crazy shit you have to know how to use the crazy shit. Use my powers to not electrocute us? Pretty impossible sounding but then again Chanyeol shouldn't be able to accumulate fire so jokes on you logic. “Now Jongdae.” He opens his hands and a spark just explodes from his chest and hands, causing a blackout. I stop holding the water, I am begging to get less tired from using so much of my power at once. “Is there anywhere open this late? What hotel in… Seoul is still giving rooms at 12 a.m?” The answer is none, Seoul hasn't been allowed to give rooms past 11 p.m and can't start until 4 a.m since Halliyun have been around. “I guess we're breaking into someplace. Good thing you caused a blackout then Jongdae.” Minseok said. Tao pointed to a tall glass building, “Can we break into there? Steal a room and sleep? We could be gone in the morning.” I didn't oppose the idea considering I didn't have any. I looked at Kris who shrugged, “It's fine by me. Everything is off even backup generators from the looks of it.” 

“I took out all the power at the church, more than I expected. I can have my dramatic backstory on my powers later, for now let's focus on this. He needs somewhere better than pavement to sleep.” Jongdae was referring to Luhan, who is sleeping but absolutely clinging to Minseok as if he will fall if he lets go. “I can carry Minseok and Luhan up to go through the glass. You wait here.” Kris picked up the two of them and was in the air. Tao and Jongdae begin a conversation in Chinese a little later. (I swear Chanyeol and I are the only ones who can't speak any other language.) 

The building we broke into was an office, no shocker there and it seemed we were in a conference room. Chanyeol almost screamed when Kris flew him up. I did not scream, I just shut my eyes until I was back on solid ground. Chanyeol turned on his ears. “Jongdae can you feel electricity? Like Joonmyeon can feel a lot of water in the area so can you tell if things are on and stuff like that?” 

“I can.”

“Are the cameras on?” He shook his head and yawned. “Joonmyeon-”

“I'm going to sleep on the desk.” Jongdae said. “Me too!” Chanyeol said. “Myeon-”

“The carpet is better.” Tao said, and laid down. “Joonmyeon, Luhan is floating and I don't know what to do.” I turn to Minseok who is holding onto Luhan's leg as he is sleeping in the air. “Have you tried pulling him down?”

“No, I just watched him float to the ceiling of course I tried he keeps going up!”

“Wake him up.”

“What if he falls?” I roll my eyes, “Minseok it's not that high.” Jongdae went to his side and gave him a small shock. Luhan woke up and yelped as he fell out of the air. Then as soon as he woke up he went back to sleep on the floor. “We should follow his ideas, sleep sounds good right now.” Tao said while yawning. It wasn't long before everyone was sleeping, everyone but Kris and I. It's common for us to sleep last, it feels weird to sleep before them. It was one of the many weird conversations Kris and I have, the good thing about having two leaders is we can relate to someone's problems with being a leader. Waiting for the rest to go to sleep was something I started doing after the first time we had to fight. If I go to sleep before them, I feel like I'm abandoning my status as a leader. I know it's dumb, but it's something I feel like I should do. 

We stay awake for a little longer, and by a little I mean an hour or two. When we finally are about to sleep, I hear muttering. I notice that it's coming from Chanyeol, but he is still asleep. He then moved and his hair burst into flames. I put it out quickly from the water dispenser in the corner. He was having a terrible nightmare from the looks of it. Then he re-lighted and I put him out again. I shook him awake, and he gave a small shout and sat up. He looked at where he was, and then looked at me. “You had a nightmare and-” I didn't finish my sentence because he hugged me tightly. “Are you okay?”

“N-No.” 

“What's wrong?”

_ “I don't want to say it out loud because Minseok hyung could wake up and I don't want to worry him.”  _ I nod.  _ “Tell me and Kris then. It's just us two so not even Lu can hear.”  _ The Canadians come and sit by us, and even though contact and comfort aren't his fortes, he pats Chanyeol's shoulder and is ready to hear what the fire boy has to say.  _ “Do you ever think some of us might not make it?”  _ He pulls his knees to his chest after he says it.  _ “Oh yeol…” _

_ “It's a fear all of us have I know but when Sicheng had that syringe to his head and none of us could do anything it hit me how easily we can die. He almost died and we couldn't do anything. He looked dead at me hyung begging for me to do something. I almost- I almost got him killed. I almost killed so many people at the circus because I couldn't get it together. I thought I could get over it but I can't. Every night I see Sunmi again and again and now I'm seeing Sicheng and they won't go away. I don't know what to do and I can barely go to bed without thinking I'm becoming someone I don't want to be. If I can't even save a few people what can I do? I already am the most dangerous power here, if I can't use it for good I'm just… I'm just a monster.”  _

_ “You're not a monster Chanyeol.”  _ Kris tells him.  _ “Then why do I feel like I caused her death? I know deep down that it wasn't my fault but she used the last of her powers for me.  The nightmares just don't stop coming. I feel like they won't ever end.” _

_ “It will take a lot of time, they will get worse but after a long time eventually they stop coming. Before that though you have to make peace with yourself at least somewhat. They'll keep coming if you remind yourself every day of what happened. You have to learn to stop hating yourself.” _

_ “How do I do that when it hurts? I know that people are probably going to be in trouble being near us and I keep thinking what if we can't save them all?” _

_ “You can't save everyone,”  _ I say,  _ “Trust me I know you can't. Sometimes people will put themselves on the line for you and then you can't save them. You can let it eat at you for a long time, or you can realize that it isn't your fault. It will hurt, there is nothing anyone can do about that, but you have to let go. Even if you think you caused harm to so many people remember that we just saved two people today. And we saved Luhan. We can maybe change this. You're not a monster, to me you are well on your way to being a hero.” _

_ “I'm no hero.” _

_ “Maybe not superman, but none of us are. You save just one person you're very much a hero. If anything you're a good person Park Chanyeol.”  _ There was nothing more to say, I don't want him to put himself down. People make mistakes and we put the blame on ourselves when we shouldn't. He shouldn't have to feel that way. Chanyeol is a genuinely good kid. He looks between the both of us and gives a quick twitch of the corners of his mouth, the almost-smile going as a silent thank you. He laid back down and was sleeping soon, and I was getting tired myself. (We have to wake up in like 3 hours if we want to be out of here before we get caught, I love insomnia!) Kris and I maintain eye contact for a moment. We don't talk, not even in our heads but I can tell what he's thinking: are we going to tell one another how and why we know what Chanyeol is going through? 

No, we don't. 

Instead, Kris yawns and flashes a peace sign, “Night.” He stretches his wings out and sleeps on one while using the other as a cover. Considering I never pay attention to them, I witness that his wings are massive. The one he is sleeping on, he barely takes up space on it. He cracks open his eye, “Sleep.” 

“Sorry.” I look away and am about to lay down when he pokes me. “Sleep here. You barely can fall asleep under normal circumstances we know you won't be able to sleep on the carpet. My wings aren't the best but they're soft enough.” How does he know I don't sleep, I thought I've been doing a good job at closing my eyes and pretending. Whatever the case, I lay down. He is was right, they were soft. What he failed to mention is they are softer than some beds I've slept on. I remember that he was supposed to tell me something, but I didn't feel like waking him up. I've never seen Kris this peaceful, he always has something on his mind. I turn and face the office doors as I am finally lucky enough to get to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy new year everyone and comments are always appreciated!!


	17. Welcome to the Bijeongsang district, we have falling Luxion members

I almost regret letting Joonmyeon sleeping on my wing. It felt tired and a little numb, but he didn't hurt it. Besides, he slept and that's important. It's been through so much, she couldn't ever get hurt from just one little man. A very short man.

We woke up at around 4:30 or 45, I don't know. But it was Tao who woke us up that early. However, no one woke _me_ up for the longest. Apparently, they were afraid of waking me. I wondered why until I saw that Joonmyeon was oddly far away from everyone else when I woke up. “W-Wha?” I said drowsily. Tao looked at us a little apologetically. “We tried to wake you and then suddenly your wing went off and Joonmyeon almost flew. Luhan stopped him though.”

_“I'm not good at stopping moving objects. I never really need to.”_

“No, you did good. I didn't go through the glass right?”

“Did I hurt you Myeon?” He shook his head, “You didn't hurt me. But we need to go. The lights and cameras will be back on and it's still dark so we can get out easily.”

“Aren't they going to notice the giant hole we made in the window? Police are going to come.”

“You realize this side is much worse than the other side of the world? They're going to think immediately it was Halliyun, and as we know Halliyun don't have fingerprints. They can't search for us. We didn't steal anything or leave anything. Here,” Jongdae tossed me a McDonald's breakfast sandwich, “We got some food. I love that it's open 24/7.” Chanyeol had lit a trashcan on fire when I was sleeping, the wind from the hole was pretty strong and making us a little cold. We ate in silence, Luhan seeming still tired. _“Are the voices still there Lu?”_ Just us, no one else. _“Just a few.”_

_“Do they hurt or are they stopping?”_

_“They hurt but I'll be alright. I've heard much worse than these three still inside. I wish my powers were easier to practice with, maybe I'd be better at controlling them.”_

_“Well now you're using them almost every day, it seems like you'll get practice regardless. Don't put yourself down Lu, you'll be able to block out every voice you want eventually.”_ When we finish, we don't jump out the hole, but walk all the way down. Well they walk, Luhan and I fly or float however you want to look at it. We walk right through the door considering the lock had been melted.

We could get a hotel to let us in now, so we book one nearby. Joonmyeon and I as usual in the rooms together, but Jongdae Luhan and Minseok shared a room, and Tao stayed in one with Chanyeol. It took a little convincing to get Chanyeol and Minseok to have separate rooms. It was okay. So immediately we all did the only reasonable thing, sleep forever. Hours later I woke up and a purple paper fizzed into my hands. It was from my mom.

 

**_On your way to Korea again? Wow you've gone quite far away. Please let me see all of your members when you get them, twelve of you in total I can't believe it. You're doing great, you haven't died yet. Be strong and stay kind. Be happy. You were on the news as I am sure you know, but we didn't see you. Of course I know it was you, I wouldn't mistake those wings for anything. I miss you dearly. If you were wondering, I did fill out the stuff needed to go to college._ **

**_My English has improved can't you tell. My friends have been helping me and when you come back you will see my pronunciation._ **

**_Stay strong my dear, I love you more than anything my little dragon._ **

 

I smiled, I miss her a lot. She can finally go to college, but I think she will start next year. I knew she could make it to college. If she can do her impossible task, I can do mine.

Then I can literally _feel_ Joonmyeon peering over my shoulder. “What do you want?” It's my personal stuff I can sound as mean as I want. (Actually no I can't this is a coping mechanism.) “Is that from your mom?” I almost forgot that one time I told him about the letters, it had been a spur of the moment saying really. I had simply been going through certain things I didn't want to think about, and when I can't think straight sometimes I say the first thing on my mind.

“Yeah, my mom. Just telling me to stay safe… and that she'd like to meet all of you.”

“That's what my mom said too.” I let him read over my shoulder considering he can't read. Well, at least not good enough to form sentences. He points out the characters he can read. I almost laughed as he did badly at pronouncing them. “Stop! You know for a fact I can't read. It's too hard.”

“Do you know how hard it is to learn Korean overall? At least the only problem with Chinese is reading.”

“And pronouncing.”

“At least the conjugation is nonexistent.” Joonmyeon rolled his eyes, we were probably going to fight forever. “I could teach you, ya know. How to read some of the important characters.” I offer him. My co-leader smiles. “Sure, and I can teach you to read Korean well.” Shit. How did he know? I can read Korean, but not well. It wasn't something I'd talk about, I made sure nothing was given away. It's just nothing important. “Sure Myeon.” Sometimes I wonder why Joonmyeon is that nice to me, I know how he feels but still… it's me we're talking about. Then there was a knock on the door. A very fast knock. “Hey guys! Let's go we know where we need to be going!” It was Jongdae. I opened the door and Minseok, as well as Luhan, was there. “Alright, let's go wake up the other two.”

“Already up!” Tao's voice said farther down the hall. Then he and Yeol went up to us. They all looked fine, other than Yeol. Yeol had a man-bun. A freaking man-bun. A ponytail is accepted, having his hair down is equally acceptable, but not this monstrosity of a hairstyle. Minseok must have hated it too, because the first thing he did was pull his hair out of the bun. “OW! What was that for?”

“You see? If I don't share a room with him we suffer from his choices. If you wear that again I'll chop your hair in your sleep.” Chanyeol looked threatened. “You wouldn't.” Minseok just looked at him. “Yeol I would help him.” I said. Maybe we were being a little too much but listen, it was _terrible!_ Jongdae ruffled his now down hair. “You'd look so nice with short hair.” The boy gasped, “You take that back! I will never cut this hair! The shortest it's ever been was this short.”

“Then how long has it been?”

“You don't wanna know,” Minseok said, “It was longer than I should have let him wear it.”

“You sound like a mom.”

“I am his mom.” Chanyeol pushed Minseok's face away. “Joonmyeon is the mom. Just wait Jongdae, it will all be revealed. Just do something stupid and the acts so much like a mother.”

“Well then you need to stop acting like children.”

“I am a child.” Tao said. Well, he got Joonmyeon there. “Well we will just have to see. One of our members is really nearby. I didn't really see him but I know he's in the area.” Jongdae said. “Well we all feel the pull of course he is in the area.” I say. “Okay yeah but listen! I mean specifically right here. Not the hotel but a few places around.” I gave a half smile, “This is going to be easy.”

 

**(ADD LINE HERE)**

 

We were in an arcade. We had to find him in an arcade of all places. “You've got to be kidding me.” I groaned. There would only be a few seconds before- “Can we play?” Jongdae was the first to ask. The rest of them turned to me and Joonmyeon with big eyes. “No,” I said, “We get in and get out.”

“We never got to play in arcades.” Minseok pleaded. “Oh no. You two are not going to play the circus card with me.”

_“I was locked in my house-”_

“Not you either!” Then, they turned to Joonmyeon. “Kris already said no.”

“He's not the boss of you.” Tao reasoned. _“Joonmyeon it's a trap.”_ I tried to tell him. _“I know.”_

_“Don't fall for it.”_

_“I won't calm down I'm not a pushover.”_

“Myeon please we can be over in like 15 minutes.” Chanyeol begged. Then Luhan sighed, looked down, and managed to look like a kicked puppy. A whole 18 year old, yet he can do this anyway.  _“Joonmyeo-”_

“Fine. But when you run out of money I'm not putting any more in the card.” Of course, he did give in. He's not really a pushover Luhan is just that cute. It makes me wonder how in the world has he never swindled stuff out of us before. Jongdae and Tao smiled and gave high fives and it was normal. However, it was Minseok, Chanyeol, and Luhan who looked so surprised and happy when they got their arcade cards from Joonmyeon. I couldn't help it and I smiled too. “Go,” I told them, “Have fun.” Then they were gone. I hate them. They looked happy, finally happy like normal teenagers. No, not like normal teenagers, more like they had a feeling that they never felt before. “You're such a mom, a pushover and a mom.”

“I am not! But look at them, they are getting to do something they've never done. You can't lie to me and say it doesn't make you feel good that you were able to make this happen.” He knew I was. I was happy and felt better. It's not that I felt bad today per se, but I felt like I was tired of this constant running on. And even though I want to go home and be back home, those smiles and their eyes getting so big at just an arcade machine was something I never knew I lived for. Again, I hate them. I looked at him for a little and I began to rethink my thoughts on him, I've never been conflicted on something like this before. I couldn't decide if I trusted him or not, well I knew that answer actually it was something else in the back of my mind. The two of us didn't hang out or play the games and set out instead looking for the Luxion member that was in here. We walked through the many machines and got closer. After the longest, we finally saw who we were looking for. He was playing a retro Pacman game when he noticed us coming up. He didn't look up or anything. He just said, “You my Luxion?” His voice was unbothered, it didn't seem like he cared. “Uh, yeah. I'm Joonmyeon and this is Kris.” Joonmyeon was taken aback a little, we've never had any of them act like they didn't care that we were here, he even sounded like he didn't want us to be here. “I’m Kyungsoo. Are there any more of you?”

“Yeah. Two siblings, a boy from Daejeon, and two from China.”

“Oh. Where are the siblings from?”

“Uh…” We both don't actually know where they're from. The boy paused and turned to us. He had big eyes and was really short, even shorter than Joonmyeon. He looked at us back and forth and scoffed. I shit you not he scoffed. “You mean to tell me you've been with them for who knows how long, and you don't know where everyone is from? You don't look like the type to not know who you're with,” He pointed his card at me, “How did you manage to let that slip?”

“So you think that's something I'd do?” Kyungsoo shook his head at Joonmyeon, “Maybe not, but I know that he definitely wouldn't.” He was brash, slightly annoying, and audacious to a point. He reminds me of someone.

Joonmyeon looked like he wanted to try to talk to him, but also smack him upside his head. “Joonmyeon, you can go to the others right now. It's fine.”

“But-”

 _“Myeon.”_ He didn't say anything back, and walked off. Kyungsoo looked at me, I held my gaze with him. After a little, he looked away and went back to playing. I won. “I'm not going to talk.”

“I'm not making you.”

“Good.” He plays a little while, and I ask a question. “How old are you?”

“16.” I feel like that's all I can ask. So I pull out my phone, making sure he thinks that I don't care. Actually, there is one last thing I can ask. “What are your powers?”

“I can move the Earth. Rocks, dirt, diamonds, intense unreasonable amounts of iron gold and the lot. Also, my skin is practically bulletproof. And I'm super strong. I can lift a car easily.” I look up. “I guess you'll have to prove it.” Kyungsoo gave this little twitch on the corners of his mouth if I blinked I'd miss it. “Maybe.” He played until he died. “Come on,” I get on with walking back to the others since Kyungsoo was used to me, “The others need to get out of here before they spend all of Joonmyeon's money.” If you're wondering how I know he is going to follow me without looking back? He's that type of person if you look back and act like you expect him to follow he won't follow out of spite. I know this because I acted exactly like that.

It was pretty obvious that Kyungsoo was not going to warm up to anyone. So it was a tense moment for everyone to meet, Kyungsoo wasn't rude but he wasn't the kindest when he replied. Again, he looked like he didn't want to be here. Or want us to be here, there wasn't any emotion behind his eyes and looked like he felt nothing. “Do you live around here?” Minseok asked. Kyungsoo rolled his eyes. “No, I just casually walked to Seoul.”

 _“He means do you live in this area?”_ Kyungsoo's eyes widened and he looked around. _“I'm Luhan. I don't talk. I can talk in your head.”_

“Cool.”

“I can set shit on fire.” Chanyeol said. Kyungsoo looked at him for a second, before turning back to us. “I know where another is, but I need to swing by somewhere. Come on.” Kyungsoo walked in front of us and we followed him.

We rode a bus for a little and then. We ended up in a suburban neighbourhood. It was a pretty nice place to live, but Kyungsoo seemed to distaste it from the way he looked around. When we stop a house he turns back to look at us, “It's probably better if you stay outside.” It was obviously his house, so of course we respect his wishes. He walks inside, all we caught was “Mom I'm back!” before he closed the door. I turned to the rest of my members, and the first thing was Minseok saying, “I don't like him.” Chanyeol shrugged. “He isn't that bad.”

“He's mean and rude. I've only known him for like 15 minutes but I really don't like him. Are we sure it's him?”

 _“Yes.”_ Luhan said, but even he sounded reluctant that Kyungsoo was joining us. “Well let's hope this gets better.” Tao said and Joonmyeon nodded in agreement. We really couldn't do anything about leaving him or he'd fade, so we just have to deal with the attitude.

Kyungsoo was walking outside with a duffel bag when a female-sounding voice shouted at him. Kyungsoo turned around and shouted, “Well be happy cause I'm finally gone! You don't have to deal with me anymore!” He slammed the door behind him. He doesn’t say anything to us but says something under his breath. _“What did you say?”_ Luhan asked. When Kyungsoo repeated it, we realized it was in a different language but I could recognize it. “You speak Hain?” He nods. “Your mom is Halliyun?”

“My dad was. He taught me, I can’t read though.” I could tell he didn’t like to talk about himself, much less his family.

He led the way again. We walked a few blocks through the neighbourhood, and we stopped at another house. Kyungsoo sighed, and knocked on the door. There were a few moments of nothing, no noise to even say that he was coming to the door. Kyungsoo was about to open his mouth and say something, when the door opened. A boy around Chanyeol’s height with a tan complexion and dark brown hair opened the door. The first person he notices is Kyungsoo, and he tries to close the door. You'd have to be blind to not notice that whoever this is, he's visibly upset and uncomfortable seeing Kyungsoo. “No no no! Absolutely not Do Kyungsoo! I told you to go awa-”

“I know you hate me right now, and that I promised you I wouldn't ever _ever_ see you again unless I had to, but I have to now.” It was the first time I heard any emotion at all in Kyungsoo's voice, it was pain. “What could possibly need you to come here?” Kyungsoo opened the door wider, and he realized what he meant. “They're here, they're really here,” He looked at all of us then back at Kyungsoo, “How long have they been here?”

“They just got here!” Suddenly a gust of wind was over me and then we were in the house. Apparently, everyone felt as misplaced as me because Luhan's eyes were wide. _“What just happened?”_

“Yeah, what was that?” Joonmyeon asked. “Oh. I can teleport. I just popped you guys inside.” Everyone but Kyungsoo it seems, because he was still outside. He walked in and stood off to the side. “You should probably introduce yourself.”

“I know what to do Kyungsoo. My name is Jongin, I'm 15 and I'm already ready to go. My dad already knows I'll be leaving soon, we can go now.” Suddenly, two girls appeared next to Kyungsoo, they looked like twins. Both girls had long brown hair and tan skin. One girl wore blue overalls with a white shirt under it, and the other had a pink shirt and grey pants with blue shoes. “What are you doing here?” They yelled in time at Kyungsoo. Jongin teleported over to them. “Don't! He's gotta stay, he is my Luxion member,” The two girls glared at him, but they walked away. “These are my sisters. Um-”

“I'm Jung-ah.” The girl with the pink shirt said, waving at all of us. “And I'm Hyebin. Nice to meet you all.” We all got to formally introduce ourselves and the twins were very interested in Luhan's powers. Everyone but Kyungsoo was pretty happy and comfortable with them. The girls are members of their own Luxion consisting of just them, with their joint power the ability to turn invisible as long as they are touching. “Are you really going to be leaving today?” Jung-ah asked, flicking a piece of string around her wrist. They were older, but they acted a little younger than 17. “Not necessarily,” Joonmyeon says, “We don’t really know where to go after you guys which is unfortunate. I don’t want to stay in Seoul any longer than I have to.” Who could blame him? Seoul wasn’t just the headquarters for Wasps in Korean, but for the world. Yet, none of them know that half borns are even a thing. It’s why there’s so many of us, it doesn’t really pop up in our DNA that we’re part illegal alien species.  You can’t tell the difference between a Halliyun and a half born without the half-born using their powers. The only real noticeable difference is that Halliyun are pretty much bulletproof (which gave me half a mind to ask Kyungsoo earlier if he was from Halliyun, but then he said only his dad was a Halliyun) and don’t have fingerprints. “Actually I do, I don’t know where exactly he lives but he’s in the Bijeongsang district.” I don’t know where that is but Kyungsoo, Jongdae, Minseok, and Jongin’s sisters all looked at him. “There? You’re going there of all places?” Hyebin exclaimed. “You work there! You even work tonight.”

“I work every night.” Hyebin says. “Then you can bring us.”

“No!” Hyebin looked at her little brother. “What was the Bijeongsang district?” I asked. “It's an area with a lot of Halliyun around. Sounds good but don't think it's a good place to be. Even if normal people walk through there, they most likely won't come back. There's so much hatred for Humans there. Don't go. Whoever you're picking up from there is probably not the best.”

“You don't know that, I know that he isn't from there he just is there sometimes.” It sounded bad, Hyebin and Jung-ah seemed like they knew firsthand that it was that bad. “Still I don't want you to be near that place. You're too much of a good person, you'll fight for fight someone. Or he'll fight someone.” Hyebin said, looking at Kyungsoo. Jongin didn't say anything to stand up for someone who seemed to have been his friend once upon a time. “Noona please, who knows when he's going to come back if we don't go.” Jung-ah and Hyebin looked at each other. “Fine,” They said once again in time, “But this isn't safe.” It was a little scary when they spoke at the same time. They held hands, and turned invisible. You could hear them going up the stairs.

Jongin turned back to us. “You guys can stay here, or go back to wherever you were.” Joonmyeon, Chanyeol, Minseok, and Tao stayed. “Can-”

“No you cannot Do Kyungsoo.” He looked down and walked out, and I followed.

He looked maybe angry, maybe sad I couldn't tell the difference. All I knew is that he and Jongin used to be nicer to him once upon a time. “I don't wanna talk about it.” He said darkly. “I know.” We passed back by his house, and he stopped by the fence that led to his backyard. He was upset, then shouted and punched a hole through his fence gate. Mind you, his fence was lined with wood but had barbed wire. He didn't even have a scratch. I wasn't surprised that he did it, it was how I dealt with shit when I was younger. “My mom had it upgraded since I kept getting stronger. She should've known that I can break through cement by now.” Kyungsoo would be classified if I'm not wrong as a “problem child” by any parent. He doesn't care about anything, for the most part, he really doesn't seem like he has any feelings. But, he does care about one thing; Jongin. That's when it finally fully clicked, it was like looking into a mirror with Kyungsoo. He acted like me.

 

**(ADD LINE HERE)**

 

 _“Why do we always go to the worst places at night? Can't we do this in the daytime?”_ Luhan asked when The twins brought us to the Bijeongsang district. It was bright and very neon like any other district in Korea. The pull was as usual strong, which meant he was here and Jongin was right. “The only reason they haven't been found is that no one who would report the place has ever made it out alive.” Jung-ah said looking up. Both girls were wearing matching black pants and heels with red shirts. “Jongin, do you know where to go?” She asked. “Absolutely not.”

“Great,” Hyebin sighed, “Be safe little brother.”

“You too Noonas.”

“We always are.” They chime. We go our separate ways into the district, following the pull wherever it takes us.

I don't think this place is big enough to be considered a district, it seems more like a pocket of an area taken over by Halliyun to the point they even had signs written in Hain under the Korean. Most places were restaurants, shops, and I think a club. “Do you think someone will try to grab us if we don't use our powers at least once?” Tao asked, casually moving into the middle of our group. Chanyeol ruffled his hair, why do they all ruffle each other's hair? “We'll protect you tiny kids who don't have cool powers.”

“I can go back far enough to make sure you were never born Park Chanyeol.” Tao said, fixing his hair. So just in case, I let out my wings. After the short gasp in awe from Jongin and even from Kyungsoo. Now we have someone with large wings walking around, Halliyun enough for them? I don't like having them out often. I'm not ashamed of them of course, but it just feels odd to have them out for long periods of time. It reminded me of when I was a toddler or something and my mom recorded my walking around in a diaper with really tiny wings sticking out of my back and her calling me Cupid. I still can’t believe I even answered to that name.

“I think he's in there.” Jongdae said, pointing at an internet cafe. The pull was strong, so we walked in. We didn't have to look far, he accidentally bumped into Joonmyeon. “Sorry.” He looked up, and maybe he didn't notice the pull that all nine of us can feel. He looks at us a little nervously, he looks again like a kid. But this time even younger than Jongin. “What are you all looking at me for?”

“We need you to come with us.” Kyungsoo said. Immediately the kid ran off. I turn to Kyungsoo, “That was literally the worst choice of words you could have used.” We chase after him. He pushes through people on the sidewalk, by now he's already gotten well ahead of us. I decide to ditch the walking and just fly above the street. I see him crossing the street, and I'm so close to at least getting him to stop running away when he holds his hand out and I'm blown back. I regain my balance and stop myself from hitting a building. I thought he had powers like Luhan, but I realized that wasn't it at all. _“He's got wind powers guys, and they're strong.”_ I let them know. _“Are you still chasing him?”_ Jongin asked. _“Yeah.”_

_“Stay on him I'm going to teleport to you.”_

_“Wait Jongin no-”_ It was too late he already had teleported to me. I was in the air. Yes, Jongin is falling. I grab him before he can fall too far. Hilariously enough, no one is paying attention to the kid falling out of the sky. It seems like weird things happen, and this isn't the weirdest thing that happened in the Bijeongsang district. I set him down on the end of the sidewalk, and we still follow the boy. Soon, Luhan catches up with us. _“I really wish I could fly right now.”_

 _“You can't?”_ I inquire, remembering when we were at the mall and I had chased him after he jumped to make sure he didn’t die, only to find out he was fine.

 _“I can kind of but not well enough for this type of chase.”_ I flew in front of the boy and he stopped short. “Go away!”

“Listen this is just a big misunderstanding we don't want to-” He blasted up in the air and onto a building, and then blew wind onto us. Jongin teleported away with a woosh noise but me and Lu were blown into the street. There was a honk and a bright light, and we almost died. Then, we didn't. The car suddenly came to a halt, and from the driver's face, this wasn't his doing. Luhan had his arms stretched out. He gave me a smile at me, and then we got out of the street. _“We lost him.”_ Luhan said. I looked up and around, and I realize he was still on the roofs. He was far again, but it was him. “Maybe not. Follow me.”

 _“You go, I have an idea just in case you can't catch him.”_ I fly up in the air and am going as fast as I could to get to him. He saw me again and tried to blow me away. I dodged it and decided that flying wasn't very good right now, so I landed on the roof and ran after him. He kept running until we ran out of roofs. “No no no…” He mumbled and turned around to me. He looked pissed, and I was not ready for him. At full force, he blew so much air that I fell on my back on a _different_ roof. I groaned and tried to stand back up. Then he was on the same roof as me and punched me in the stomach. It was too late by then to even fight back well. “Listen what he said-” He blasted me back again. Then there was a little woosh sound and I realized Jongin was behind the boy with Luhan. Luhan had that boy's hands stuck to his sides. _“Let me talk to him.”_ Luhan touched his shoulder then let him go, talking because the boy's face turned red and he looked at me apologetically. “I'm Sehun. Sorry about that, I guess I wasn't paying attention.”

“Yep,” I grunted, “No problem.” He quickly helped me up. “Luhan explained what's going on. Where is everyone else?”

“I'm Kris and they're down there somewhere.”

“Right here!” Chanyeol shouted. We looked over the rooftop and saw the rest of the Luxion. Jongin telephoned Luhan down and Sehun and I landed. “You got him!” Kyungsoo said. Again, a terrible choice of words. “Sorry for running, but you said those things and I kinda freaked out.”

“Don't worry, I would've run if someone sounded that scary I'd run to.” Jongin said glaring at Kyungsoo. Sehun looked at me, _“Did something happen to them?”_

 _“Apparently, they haven't said anything yet.”_ Joonmyeon sighed. “Nice to meet you, I'm Joonmyeon one of your leaders.”

“I'm Kris as you know, the other leader.” Sehun's mouth gaped. “Oh no I punched my leader?”

_“You punched your leader.”_

“I'm sorry.” I gave a small smile. “It's fine don't worry. We should be worrying about how we're going to get anywhere to stay. Mainly because we don't know how to get back to our part of Seoul.” How would we get back? “Do you know how to get back to your neighbourhood?” Jongdae asked. Kyungsoo and Jongin shook their heads. Oh yeah, they'd never been here. “There is a way. I can teleport you all to the hotel you were staying at.”

“Wait, Sehun don't you need to let your parents know where you're going?”

“Nah, they won't miss me.” None of us knew what to say back from that. He looked at us and shrugged his shoulders. “Don't feel bad. Things in life happen. You just have to roll with the punches or revive.” We didn't say anything again, but Kyungsoo. “They do care about you. They just can't show it.”

“No. Trust me they don't care. Let's go, you all can fill me in with what exactly is going on.” Jongin nodded. “The catch, however, is you have to kinda hug. Like this.” He put his arms over Luhan, if you had more people it would look like a huddle. “Really?” Jongin looked at me. “Do you want to hold hands? Yes really. Come on. You guys think of your hotel room and it'll work.” So we did it, with Kyungsoo moving away from Jongin. I wrapped my arms over Joonmyeon and Sehun. There was the woosh, and suddenly we were all in our hotel room.

It's only like 9 p.m when we pop in, so there is time to get another room for the three new people we have around. Joonmyeon offered to go down and book it, and the rest of us tried to find space to sit. Sehun cursed under his breath. “Language.” Chanyeol and Minseok turned to me. I never say that. “Sorry, just slipped out.”

“Turns out I actually do need to go back to my home. I left my bag of clothes.”

“So did I. Kyungsoo, did you?” The shortest shook his head at Jongin. “Good. We'll be right back.” They poofed away and were back in about two minutes. Clothes, and a GameBoy with Sehun were in their hands just in time for Joonmyeon to come back and say he has a room for them (and complain that we are running him dry). “Okay, I was in your house for thirteen seconds exactly and I hated it.”

“Try 14 years. It sucks,” Again, we were stunned at how blunt he talks about them. His own parents. Sehun looks at us, “Is this the part where we all tell our dramatic backstories and explain why we've all broken teenagers from probably past childhood traumas?”

“I lived a relatively normal life.” Tao said. He's probably the only one. “Not yet, that's when we have all of the members.” Jongdae said. “This isn't everyone?” Kyungsoo asked. “No,” Joonmyeon spoke up, “One of them didn't want to come and we couldn't make him and the other is still missing. The problem is he's fading so seeing him in dreams and such is hard…” Joonmyeon then told Jongdae, Kyungsoo, Jongin, and Sehun about the prophecy and just how severe whoever is missing’s case is and also brought them up to speed on 2ne1 and how they can help us. “Which is why we need to find him soon but honestly all we know is that he's in Korea. I haven't really felt anything from him specifically in a while though, I'm trying to stay positive but the odds weren't in our favour when we even started this.”

 _“I didn't know leaders could do that.”_ I nodded, they could. I can't do it as well as Joonmyeon can, but that's because I'm not the main leader. Which reminded me that I need to tell him what I meant when I said I wasn't as much as the leader as he was. “I know that was a lot to process on your first or second day of meeting us so you should probably get some sleep.” I said. “Wait, am I rooming with Kyungsoo?” Jongin stared at him, and again this was the only time I've seen an emotion pass through Kyungsoo's eyes. “No, anyone else like to room with him and Sehun?” Luhan raised his hand. _“I shall switch if it's fine with Jongin.”_ He nodded and was given the room key before he Lu and Sehun left the room. Kyungsoo left with Minseok and Jongdae. Chanyeol and Tao said their goodnight before leaving.  _"It takes some time, but Kyungsoo gets nicer I promise. His edge isn't as bad as when I first met him, so consider yourself lucky."_ I hope Jongin is right. “I'm showering first.” Joonmyeon called. I shooed him off as he went to the bathroom.

I pulled out the paper from my little backpack. There were more symbols around. _The boy with contradictions_ had Jongdae's symbol, _a boy who is stronger than all_ , _a boy that can go anywhere,_ and _a boy who has no home_ have symbols but I haven't seen them before. Then the two with the boy who can't die and is dying are empty. What if… what if he dies? If he dies it'll be our fault, not even then it's my fault. I withheld what I knew about Jongdae, and maybe if Joonmyeon already knew he would've changed his mind on staying behind an extra day at Tao's house. I'm so stupid, why did I keep that from him? I hate it so much that I keep stuff from him.

I flopped on my bed and covered my eyes with my arm. After some time I hear the water turn off and Joonmyeon opens the door. “Are you being depressed? I can see the list in your hand, so what's wrong?” I just sighed. He moved my hand off my eyes. “We're going to find him, I promise.”

“What if we're too late Joonmyeon? What if he's already gone?” He doesn't say anything, but he sits me up. “Laying down will make you sadder. You can't keep thinking of the what if, it will make you worse. We're going to find him, it'll be in bad shape but like Luhan just us being around will bring him back. Now go take a shower, you'll feel better.” I did what he said, and by the time I was under the water it was too late. I had left my clothing in the room. _Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit_ is all that went through my head as I showered. I wrapped the towel around my lower half and went to grab my clothing. Joonmyeon looked over and then immediately looked away. “You're not wearing clothes.”

“Yes I noticed,” I said grabbing the whole bag, “I left them.”

“How did you manage to forget- oh my god why do your bruises look that bad?!” I looked down at my torso, the purple and red mark's were pretty prominent now that I've thought about it. “Oops?” His eyes almost bugged out when he heard my response. “No! Oops is not a valid response to that! You go put some pants on and then I'm going to patch you up if it's the last thing I accomplish today.”

“It’s not like they hurt that bad-” His stare cut me off, reminded me of when Yixing threatened to put Luhan to sleep.

I came back into the room with boxers and sat on the bed. Joonmyeon had elastic bandages, rubbing alcohol, and something in a small blue container. “When did you buy all of this?” He laughs, “I didn’t. Bom noona is really good at making sure we don’t die. The blue stuff is some Halliyun remedy. She didn’t give me a lot but she said it goes a long way.” He put some stuff on two fingers and rubbed one of my bruises. The stuff was cold which combated the fact his fingers were warm. There was a really dark one and he sighed as he went and rubbed his fingers over it. He looked up at me, and I gave an apologetic smile. “You worry me Kris.” After a few minutes the bruises got lighter, and a few even went away. Then, Joonmyeon walked behind me. “You have open scratches. Not too big but that definitely came from the roof. Which means rubbing alcohol.”

“But that burns.”

“Yes, I know.” I try to look back at him. But he puts his hand to my cheek and turns me back. “Don't look or it'll hurt more.”

“I don't think that's how it-” That shit _burned._ I gritted my teeth when Joonmyeon placed a towel with rubbing alcohol on my back. “It's fine, you're going to be okay.” Then he rubbed near the outside of the wounds. “Your tattoo is amazing.”

“Thanks, it isn't that great really.”

“No, I’m not kidding. It's beautiful and interesting. It's really good, and I think it's amazing.”

“You said that already.” I couldn't tell if the stuff was on his fingers this time. “Am I dying doc?” I asked playfully. “I think you'll make a full recovery.” He picked up the bandages, and began to wrap my torso. “You know, I wanted to be a doctor for a little.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. But I decided I want to be a teacher, for young kids. Probably first or second grade.” He sounded resentful, and missing his normal life. “When this is over, are you going to still become a teacher Myeon?” He sat by me and nodded. “It'll be all I want to do. What about you?” I stopped and thought about it. “I don't know. I guess I have really thought past this. I guess I will go home, see my mom and figure it out from there.” I've spent my life flying by the seat of my pants, even if I didn't want to.

There is silence between us, but it didn't last long because there was something I needed to tell him. “Joonmyeon do you remember when I told you that you were more of a leader than I am? Well, there's a reason behind it.” He waits for me to continue. “You're like… the main leader and I'm secondary pretty much. You're going to be the one who is connecting to them even more than I am.”

“Kris…”

“No, it's real. I know it is. Don't ask me how or who told me, but it's the truth. It's not a bad thing to me, I think it's better than the other way around.” I wasn't upset, but he was confused. “I'm the leader that keeps them safe on the outside, but you are the one who keeps them safe on the inside. Worries about their mental health and stuff like that.”

“But then who takes care of you on?”

“You of course.” Again silence. I kept looking at him and realized something about me as well as Joonmyeon. _“Are we gonna talk about it?”_ I asked. He looked down and wrung his hands. _“Do we even have time?”_

 _“Not really now, but when will we?”_ He shook his head, even though I knew that was the answer. _“We can talk about it eventually.”_ He tells me. Maybe we will, but we most likely won't. I don't deal with things like this easily, an apparently neither does Joonmyeon. I never think about it at all. It seems like this just popped out of nowhere but that doesn't matter because it's staying.

“Myeon, where do you think he is?”

“In Korea, and not here. That's all I know. Maybe a little farther from us.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I'm worried that this is going to get a lot harder.”

“We'll make it,” I say, “Don't worry. All of us are going to make it out of this. I promise you.” He gave me a smile. “We should go to bed now.” Joonmyeon said. He went to his bed and I laid down. I wondered still, if we would find him safely. I knew Joonmyeon was still awake, and that I could tell him if something was bothering me. This time though, I felt like my doubts were something I should keep to myself.


	18. *Marina and the Diamonds oh no plays in the background*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wow, cabbage

This time when someone woke me up, it was Jongin. He teleported into our room and sent us into the nicest form of panic: mildly confused and upset panic. Which wasn't good considering he brought Minseok because both of them were talking at the same time and not me or Joonmyeon could understand. Jongdae was also there, and suddenly he screamed so loudly we all looked at him. “Thank you! Kyungsoo and Chanyeol got in a fight and now Wasps are coming!” That got our attention. I threw masks to everyone and grabbed our bags and two for Kyungsoo and Yeol. “They fought other people?” Joonmyeon asked. “No! Each other! Kyungsoo and Chanyeol had gone down to get water or something and I came with them just in case and then they got in trouble. Chanyeol got mad at Kyungsoo's attitude and then he told Yeol to shut up and stuff happened. I don't know but then Yeol was close to swinging at him and Kyungsoo used his powers first! So the lady there called the Wasps!” We ran to the elevator but it didn't come fast enough for my liking. “Jongin, where are Sehun and Zitao?”

“Already down. Nothing matters let's teleport.” So we did. We were down, and the only people standing up were Kyungsoo and Zitao. “Where the fuck is Yeol?” Minseok said. Kyungsoo didn't answer, his eyes were wide and he wasn't looking at any of us. “Kyungsoo what did you do?” Jongin ran to the other side of the table, and so did I. There was Chanyeol, on the ground. He's knocked out, but Minseok comes over. “Minseok he's just-” Minseok throws off his glove. He aims and hits Kyungsoo in the shoulder. He cried out but Joonmyeon stepped in front of them. “Minseok stop. He's not dead.”

“Does it look like I care? Move Myeon.” 

“Stop fighting him, this isn't important.” 

“Joonmyeon. Move. None of us even want him here!” Joonmyeon didn't move. Chanyeol had a small welt on his head, but other than that he looked fine. Then Minseok threw a blast at Joonmyeon, who put water in front which stopped the ice in a way. Well enough to not get hurt. “Myeon I don't want to do this please move!”

“No.” Minseok tried to hit him again and didn't make it. “We cannot be fighting one another alright!” Joonmyeon yelled again. I wanted to get in between them, but it's one of those moments where you know for a fact you just can't get in or you will make it worse. Chanyeol woke up, but we didn't let him jump up either. Then Minseok was going to hit him with both hands but Jongdae touched his shoulder and he was electrocuted. Not enough to knock him out, but Minseok turned around. “Stop please! They're here. They're here. We gotta go.” 

“Jongin where?” We all turned to him, and he was stunned into silence. “I don't I don't…”

“Jongin pick anywhere!”

“Fine!” We all ran and did the huddle and we were poofed. No one knew where to go, and none of us knew where we were. Mainly because it was a forest. We got out of the huddle and looked around. It was still dark, so I am pretty sure this is the same day. “Jongin where are we?” Kyungsoo asked. “Um, I decided to pick a place that… that…” His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he just crumpled. Luhan noticed in time and stopped him from hitting the ground. Kyungsoo set Jongin in his arms and looked at him. “You made him move to too many places he's never been to or seen. And he was already- he was stressed so this just made it worse and now he's fainted.” 

“This was your fault!” Minseok shouted, “You don't like us fine, but the least you could do was give a little respect! I don't know what you did to make him hate you to the point Jongin doesn't even want to stand  _ next  _ to you but I can understand why!”

“Enough!” Tao says. “You,” He looks at Kyungsoo, “You know why we're mad at you. You almost got all of us killed. Don't do that again. And Minseok, hyung we don't take jabs at things like that. The next time any of us get into an argument you want someone to talk about your hands? We don't play those cards. There are more important things than saying who did it. You want someone to say who did it? Fine! Kyungsoo did it for Christ's sake but we don't have time to think about that. For starters where the hell are we?” 

“Considering we're in the forest, reception probably doesn't exist,” Joonmyeon says, holding his phone, “It's 11:39 at night though. Same day. We slept for two hours at most.” 

_ “Which means you slept for none.”  _ I told him. He sighed. “I could fly up and try to get service.” Joonmyeon tossed me his phone and I fly up through the treetops. I turn on the location and read what it says, but I also notice something else. Ahead of the forest, there is the city, but there is a warehouse with flickering lights. Not just like some flickering lights that needed to be replaced, but they were going off and on. One was off in the right room, but then the left light suddenly turned on. It was weird. Our type of weird.

I land back down. “We're in Bucheon right now. And I think we may have found the boy we need to save.” I tell them about the weird flickering lights. “I would say we can go now, but we have Jongin to think about.” Joonmyeon said. We could go back to bed, but it's a forest, not the best place to sleep. Sehun was quick to pull his hoodie over his head and lay down, and so was Tao. “Been through worse.” They both said, and looked at one another. “I thought you had a normal life.” 

“I did, doesn’t mean there weren’t some bumps in the road.” Sehun hummed in agreement and the closed his eyes. Kyungsoo leaned against a tree but didn’t fall asleep. Chanyeol sat away from Kyungsoo up against a tree, and Minseok slept on him. Luhan then laid on Minseok’s legs. “Don’t float away this time.”

_ “No promises.”  _ Luhan smirked. Minseok took off his glove and put his hand on his back, which made the telepath almost scream. Minseok laughed until Lu lifted his glove and started hitting him with it.  _ “Apologize you fiend!” _

“Alright alright, I’m sorry!” He didn’t sound very sorry, but Luhan gave him his glove back anyway. “Drama queens.” Chanyeol said. “Says you! The boy who gave a eulogy to his hair when we chopped it down to this length.”

“It didn’t deserve to go.” Minseok rolled his eyes and slept on his brother’s shoulder. 

Luhan however, was still awake. He was using his powers to draw in the dirt. He looked up and me and Joonmyeon.  _ “You know, my dad used to tell me every time that my powers went haywire that one day I'd be able to move stars,”  _ It was just me, Luhan, and Joonmyeon. He had more to say and we were willing to listen,  _ “I believed him, and I got stronger and better. Then it happened and everything I was flown out the window and the mother you guys know flew in. For the longest time, I felt like I couldn't do anything correctly. She turned me weak and into everything I didn't want to be. But now even though it hasn't been that long, I feel like some of the Luhan who believed in himself can come back since I've been with you all. Maybe one day, I know it won't come for a long time but maybe one day I'll be able to speak again.”  _ I feel like the last sentence shouldn't have come as a shock, but it did. It never crossed my mind that Luhan could ever speak.  _ “When did you stop?”  _ Joonmyeon asked, but from his tone Luhan didn't have to answer.  _ “A long time ago. If I tell you any more about me, it'll spoil my tragic backstory for tomorrow if he's in that warehouse you saw Kris.”  _

_ “You know you don't have to tell if you don't want to. None of us are going to make you relive it.”  _

_ “I know and I thank you for that, but it's better than letting it eat at me. All of us have something that is, maybe getting it off our chests to the people we are going to need to be close with will help. At the very least one of us will be able to relate to someone somehow.”  _ I looked at Joonmyeon, I hoped he wouldn't relate to mine or I wouldn't relate to his. If he could, he didn't deserve to.  _ “Goodnight Luhan.”  _

_ “Goodnight Joonmyeon, goodnight Kris.”  _ His eyes close, and after a few minutes he's the last asleep save for Joonmyeon and me. 

I looked at Jongin who was still sleeping on Kyungsoo’s lap. I thought about moving him to lay on my other wing of something, but I don’t want to wake him up. I spread out and lay down, covering myself with my other wing. It’s a few minutes, but Joonmyeon comes and lays down. “Can we talk about it tomorrow? After the get together of feelings that everyone seems willing to have happen?”   
“I don’t think we’re going to have time,” I tell him quietly, “We’re most likely going to have our hands full before and after that. We aren’t that good at being quiet or subtle, so something is bound to happen that’s going to end up with us needing to fight our way out of a situation.”

“You pessimist.” There wasn’t that much force behind his voice, like he knew I was right anyway. “How long have you known Myeon?”

“Since we were stuck in that month without any help at all. You know, the one right before we met Yeol and Minseok? I just didn't acknowledge it at all. What about you?” I stayed silent for a little, not to remember because I already knew. I needed the silence because I didn’t know how to correctly put it. “Maybe after we had our argument about waiting when we were at Tao's house. Actually no- it's could have been before then but that day I just… just knew I guess. Doesn't this count as talking about it?”

“No, neither of us have actually gone “Well this is happening and we need to deal with it whilst dealing with the coming end of the world as well as all of the terrible mental problems our Luxion has” and sat down with the information and processed it and figured out what we're going to do with it.”

“Says the boy who calls it information.”

“At least I call it something at all.” Joonmyeon sits up and looks at me. He sighs and pinches his brow space (I know it's called the glabella but it is gross to say) which means he is either trying to grasp a concept or is ignoring something. He's ignoring something, because I'm ignoring the same thing. Either that or he's tired of me ignoring the thing, which is something he'd need to get used to because haha Joonmyeon I've been ignoring most emotions since I was 10 years old. That sounded better beforehand.  _ “I just don't want this to never happen when it can. I know for a fact you know it can happen too.”  _

_ “At what cost? We'd make mistakes that could lead to a bad outcome.” _

_ “Or it could be fine, we could be fine. This could have a happy ending you know.”  _ I can't reply because it could, I'd love for him to be right about the thing I'm currently not thinking too hard on.  _ “Are you gonna tell me,”  _ He lays back down closer to me,  _ “What happened that made you not want to go back to China?”  _

_ “So much Myeon, I'd worry you if I told you it all right here right now.”  _

_ “Why don't you let me worry about you when you told me just yesterday I was supposed to take care of you from the inside when you don't talk to me?”  _ He got me there.  _ “If you really worry about me you might miss over everyone else and if that happens they'll feel bad. They need you more than I need you-”  _ He places his hands on both sides of my face, shutting me up.  _ “You need me just as much as they need me the same way I need you just as much as they need you. However, neither of us know what the fuck we're doing.”  _ I give a small titter and smile. His hands are warm and soft. Wait why is that the first thing I think of? Oh, not again Kris Wu. Do not think about it too much. But his hands  _ are  _ soft, and I normally don't like contact like this. He lets me go, and the air sting my cheeks where his hands were.  _ “There will be time,”  _ I said it believing myself for the first time,  _ “And we can talk about it and finally be able to stop calling it it or information.”  _ Joonmyeon smiled.  _ “Goodnight Kris.” _

_ “Sleeping first for a change?” _

_ “No, but I know you will. Sleep, I'll follow suit soon.”  _ I close my eyes, and let the night swallow me.

I hate dreaming so much.

_ I'm in a forest of bamboo (yes very stereotypical I know but was it your dream no) and I'm not me. I'm a child. My only indication of this is that I am very short and I have to look up at other things I normally wouldn't have to. So either I am a midget, or I am a child. I walk through the forest and I come to a stop. There is the dragon symbol from some time ago before we met Luhan, and then again Joonmyeon's pendant, both floating in the air. The same old man karate voice is back. “Save yourself, prepare yourself.” _

_ “What am I fighting against? We barely know how to do this nevertheless find the third Gasa and you're expecting me to do things I can't do! How can I save myself? How do I save Joonmyeon too?” The wind blows, pushing me closer to the symbols in the air. The dragon turns into my own. “Choose one! A leader for a leader! Carry on here or allow him to lead, and be reduced to less than him. Save yourself or give in to the dragon and let him go.” I have no clue what is happening, but it seems like I have a choice to make. Him or me, it was easy to make. I touch Joonmyeon's symbol. “Are you certain, saving him?” _

_ “Oh just take me already and stop talking.” Suddenly the dragon symbol comes to life; a greenish-grey colour on him with yellow eyes. And it eats me and I hear, “may it commence. See if you are fit” before I wake up in a lovely shock.  _

It rings in my ears when I wake up. Joonmyeon is still sleeping when I look at him. I try to go back to sleep but I can't, I keep thinking about my dream and the dragon. What is commencing? What did I do? What am I supposed to be fit for? Suddenly, I felt a burning sensation in my hand. It wasn't like I was being singed off of my body, but painful nonetheless. I have to bite my other hand to keep from screaming until it just goes away. I look at my left hand, and see the dragon tattoo on my inner ring finger. That asshole burned me! Then there is a buzzing, like a phone. Then I see, oh it is a phone. Joonmyeon's phone to be exact. I can see and reach it from here, so I grab it to turn it off until I see who is calling. It's his mom. As I'm thinking of waking him up for it, it ends and his mom immediately calls back. I answer and am about to wake up Joonmyeon when she starts talking. “Joonmyeon I know you told me not to call unless-” 

“Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt you mam but I'm not Joonmyeon. I'm Kris, the other leader of his Luxion. Joonmyeon is sleeping.” 

“Oh,” She is silent for a moment, “Nice to meet you. I hope to meet you in person. But listen, you need to tell him it isn't safe in Korea right now. The Wasps are connecting you to the attack in China and are looking for you. I mean everywhere in Korea and China people are on the lookout for 10 boys of young teen ages.”

“Everywhere?” It made me a little panicked, especially since it was already morning, maybe noon. I shook Joonmyeon awake and gave him the phone. I woke up everyone else telling them what Joonmyeon’s mom told me. Then Sehun looked at me, a little nervous. Actually no, he looked so scared he might cry. “Kris are we- are we gonna die?”

“No. No we’re not. We aren’t gonna get caught and we’re going to be okay.” Joonmyeon gets our bags. “How are you feeling Jongin?”

“I’m fine. A little tired but teleporting should be a breeze if I don’t have to go to random places.” I nod and we put on our masks and get out of the forest but stop short. They’re everywhere. Out at every shop and near every building. And then they saw us.  _ “Jongin, that building now.”  _ Wooshed. This… this is not the right building. “Jongin wrong one!” I say. We’re in a store. “Sorry I panicked! Stop stressing me out- Sehun put the chips back!” We poof again and end up inside the warehouse. However, none of the lights are on, but it’s still bright here. Then I realize it’s from the walls, the windows, it’s everywhere but the lights themselves. The warehouse looks like it might have stored something once upon a time, but now it was grey and empty. I couldn’t believe the place hadn’t fallen away. That being said, some stuff looked like it had been moved to support the area. “Upstairs.” Minseok pointed. It’s brighter up there, must be the source, maybe that’s where he is. Kyungsoo looked at the door and raised his hand, a sheet of rock comes up in front of the door. “Just in case.” In order to get up to the second floor, you’d have to walk up the stairs. But the stairs had fallen, we love unreasonable inconveniences. Kyungsoo lifted his hand again and makes some for us. “Thanks Soo,” Minseok says, giving him a nod, “Sorry for trying to go berserk on you.”

“No bad blood I deserved it.” Jongin waited for him at the top of the stairs. “Don’t do something that stupid again,” Then his voice got slightly softer, “You scared me.” We walked and I understood what Joonmyeon meant on even the pull fading. Sometimes I’d feel it strongly and other times it would be gone. We went into this one room, and it was too bright to even see. With my eyes shut I heard some sounds coming from a person. Kyungsoo spoke back, so it must’ve been Hain. The lights dimmed, but it still was a little bright. “Don’t open yet! Please!” He sounded hurt. He says something again in Hain. “Fine… open.” We do and he’s up against the wall in a ball, his mop of brown hair shaking slightly. “We're not here to hurt you.” Joonmyeon said. “I know, the penguin-like one. He speaks Hain, he told me.” Luhan snorted and looked over at Kyungsoo. “His name is Kyungsoo. I'm Joonmyeon, and this is Kris. We're the leaders.”

“Two leaders?” I nod but remember he isn't looking at us. “Yes, we can all get formally introduced later but we need to go.” 

“Please don't be scared.” 

_ “Why would be scared?”  _ Lu asked, and the boy isn't taken aback by the head talking. “Because I'm sick.” He looked up at us. The outer edges of his skin were grey, dry lips, sunken cheeks, and the whites of his eyes were yellow along with his irises. He stands up. The banging on the doors gets louder, and Minseok looks warily at Kyungsoo. “My name is B-Baekhyun. I-” His legs shake and he falls and all fours. “I'm fading. You know what that is right?” 

“Yes, and we know who can save you.” Chanyeol helped him up. For a moment I didn't know who he was referring to, then I remembered. Yixing. “Yeol we won't be able to get there, Jongin has never been there.”

“If you have a picture I can take you there.” I didn't know if any of us had taken- “I have one,” Chanyeol raised his hand, “I wanted to keep it unless we never saw him again.” Minseok smiled. “Smart move little brother. Baekhyun, is there a second exit?” He shook his head, trying to stand again. “There is only one.” Baekhyun leans on Joonmyeon for support. “So I guess we're fighting.” Sehun says. I give him a challenging smile, “Then put on your mask and give Baekhyun one, let's make this quick.” Kyungsoo carried Baekhyun and we're just in time for the Wasps to break down Kyungsoo's wall. Joonmyeon blasted a line of them with water. “Yeollie hold Baekhyun for a second.” Kyungsoo gave him the boy and stomped, spikes came out of the ground, impaling a good amount of Wasps, but they kept coming. “Did you just call me Yeollie? You do care!”

“Shut up it's just shorter than your actual name.” 

“But you didn't deny it!” Chanyeol blew a flame in the face of a Wasp who got too close for comfort. Suddenly I saw them… retreating? They were leaving and it was silent, other than a ticking noise getting faster. “Guys it's a bomb they're going to blow us up!” Kyungsoo says, but none of us knows where it is-

“So I guess we're fighting.” Sehun says. I give him a challenging smile, “Then put on your mask and give Baekhyun one, let's make this quick.”

“Guys they're going to plant a bomb and leave, we either need to find it or run away fast enough.” Tao says just as Wasps flood in.  _ “Who planted it?”  _ Luhan asked fighting some off.  _ “I don't know. Kyungsoo! Can you clear a path through a wall?”  _

_ “I can try, I can't move metal but I can try to throw something through it. All of you clear the floor! Get up here!”  _ Everyone who can't fly or float is lifted up by Luhan, and Baekhyun holds up his hand,  _ “Close your eyes.”  _ We do.  _ “Open.”  _ The Wasps were on the floor. “I-I blinded them. If I were healthy I could have done it without hurting you.” Then he groaned in pain and he got even greyer. Kyungsoo raised a fist, causing a giant rock to come from the ground and threw it at the side of the warehouse. We ran out, but Luhan looked back. **“Lu, what are you doing?”** I yell.  _ “If it goes off others die! I can't just stand here and let it happen!”  _ I was afraid he would say that.  **“Then what can you do?”**

_ “Try and contain the explosion. Get others and Baekhyun as far away as possible. Tao, how long do I have?” _

“Well it went off after 5 minutes of fighting so I say two more.” Luhan nodded and looked back at us.  _ “Go, get people out of here. If I don't come back-”  _

“Don't say that. You can do this and you are coming back.” Luhan looked at Joonmyeon, smiling sadly.  _ “Tell Luwen, I'm sorry I didn't get her a new football.”  _ I didn't want to leave Luhan, but I wanted to respect what he wanted too. We disperse, the Wasps also were trying to get to us, but we are better than that now. We know what we need to do to get away. I walk into a store with people and shout, “Please evacuate Wasps planted a bomb in a warehouse and you will die if you do not leave!” People looked at me like I was crazy so I tried again. “Would I have come in here to warn you of something like that if it wasn't true? Please!” People began to move and leave and I let out a sigh of relief. I sprouted my wings and I heard gasps from behind me. I looked back on the people I had gotten out. “The aliens weren't the ones who planted the bomb, it was Wasps. Think about that.” I see Tao and Joonmyeon helping out, and Jongin teleporting people to the edge of the forest.  _ “How are we on time?” _

_ “Lu 30 seconds!”  _ Then I saw a little boy. A little boy in a wheelchair extremely close to Luhan.  _ “10 seconds.”  _ I dive for him, scoop him out of his wheelchair just for the place to go boom and to hear a scream rip from Luhan's throat as he tries holds every single piece of that warehouse from hitting anyone. It doesn't work, he tries as hard as he can but some flies out. Miraculously I'm only barely grazed by some things. I cover the boy with my wings. He's crying, the noise is loud and he can still get hurt. I remember when something happened like this to me, and what my mother said to me. “It's going to be okay, you're going to be okay. I'm here and I'll protect you I promise.” I tell him over the noise. I cover his ears. Thankfully, as soon as it happens, it's over. I move my hands. “I told you I'd protect you.” He smiled. “What's your name?”

“Y-Yookyung. I'm 10.” I smile.

“Well Yookyung, where are your parents?” He shakily pointed a finger at a shop. “Told me to try and get away. Are you an angel?”

“I'm whatever you want me to be.” I pick him up again and fly inside. It isn't long before I find his parents on the floor, I place Yookyung by their side. “I'm going to try to find his wheelchair if it wasn't blown up.” I scan the area, Joonmyeon is putting out the last of the fire and Minseok is icing Luhan's burns. None are major from what I can see, but he looks tired. The wheelchair is broken, but repairable so I gave it to them. “I tried but I could only save him-”

“Thank you,” His mother said, hesitant but sincere, “You saved our son, there is nothing we can ever do to repay you.”

“I have a mother too, I know she would hate if I'm even hit once. And I have people I need to take care of too now, I don't know what I'd do if anything happens to them… And you don't need to repay me it was something I needed to do. If you even think you need to do something please never tell anyone what you saw from exo today. That's my family that did their best to save the city, I need them as you need him. That is all I could ever ask.” I don't wait for an answer, we need to get to Yixing. I regroup with the other members and see Yeol pulling out his phone, he gives it to Jongin. So far we have a quickly fading member, one with burns, and then some of us most likely needing more than just bandages from the shrapnel. Chanyeol had a cut on his arm, not deep but still. We got together and poofed before the scene got any worse. 

* * *

I couldn't believe we'd actually be back here seeing as Yixing was firm on not joining us. No matter how beautiful this hidden area was, it left a bad taste in my mouth because of that. I don't have time to think about that, because I take Baekhyun and I fly to Yixing's house and pound on the door. He opens with a confused look until he notices what's in my arms and he takes him. His hands glow yellow as he walks upstairs and lays him on a bed. “He's fading. Fading even faster than Luhan, if you hadn't found him when you did he'd be gone.”

“You must be Yixing, nice to know you think so lowly of my body functions.” Yixing smiled softly, his eyes going from brown to purple as he uses more power. “This is going to take a long time, anyone else hurt first?” Chanyeol and Luhan walked closer. He touched Chanyeol's arm and suddenly the cut closed up.  **“Didn't I heal you last time?”** He asked Luhan,  **“I'm going to have to start charging you for this.”** Yixing puts both hands on Luhan's arms and concentrates, in a few minutes our telepath is good as new. “I can heal very quickly, but you're a special case. You're fading and your body refuses to really heal itself alone. I just wish I knew why.”

“Probably because I'm not from around here.”

“You speak Korean so I kinda got that.”

“No I learned Korean, I'm from Halliyun.” We couldn't believe it, a Halliyun right here. But he was dying. “Makes sense,” Yixing said, “This isn't your planet so you aren't built for it, but you're also already sick. Maybe if they had found you earlier, you could have been in better shape.”

“Halliyun begin fading earlier than half-borns right?” Jongdae asked. Baekhyun raised his eyebrow. “Not a single one of you is Halliyun? There really aren't that many left. Let's focus on the depressing reality of this all later, I don't want this entire process to be of us talking about sad stuff for entertainment.” 

“No that's for later.” Sehun said. Baekhyun tried to sit up to ask him what he meant, but Yixing made his threatening doctor face and Baekhyun laid back down. “I'm this close to putting you to sleep.”

“Please don't, then who will keep you company?” Yixing just rolled his eyes, “I just met you today, I've been living out the last 16 years of my life pretty well without you.” We leave them alone, giving Yixing all the time he needs to heal Baekhyun. “That's Yixing,” Jongin states, “Considering you told us he didn't want to come with you, I thought he'd be meaner. He looks really nice.” 

“He is nice, he's just afraid.” I tell him.  _ “But still, he left us.”  _ Luhan says, sitting in the air. “He thinks he did this to Baekhyun,”  Jongdae said sitting down, “Of course he hasn't said that but the way he speaks. He sounds like… never mind. But I know what he sounds like and why.” Chanyeol went outside, probably to take more pictures, and Jongdae followed, who grabbed Tao. “I'm going to go make a friend or something.” Minseok said. “But you don't have any friends for experience!” Chanyeol yelled back. Minseok blasted him, and went outside. “Lu, come on let's go. I wanna find something to do now that I'm finally away. You'll be my translator.” Sehun says, pulling the Chinese boy with him. Jongin and Kyungsoo look at us, then each other. “We need to talk.” Jongin says to his former friend. Kyungsoo nods, and they walk up the stairs. “For two people where one of them can't stand the other, they do a pretty good job at cooperating with each other.” 

“Reminds me of us.” Joonmyeon replied. I look at him. “For the millionth time, I never once hated you Myeon. Like, ever. You're nice and trusting and good.” 

“Thanks,” He flops and lays on my shoulder. Why is he doing this how does he do this so easily what the fuck is happening I don't know what is happening what do I do- “I wish I had known early though. I spent a month thinking you really, really didn't like me. You just looked so cold and ew and mad at me infinitely.”

“I just hate when you look down on yourself like that. Like when you thought you couldn't do this. I know you can do this and that just made me upset.”

“I still feel like I can't do this. We barely know what we're doing, I'm a little lost. Scratch that, I'm very lost. We found each other now what do we do, we don't even know how to find the third Gasa.” 

“I know, it's fine. We are gonna make it and everything is going to be fine. We are going to find out everything we can and get to the third Gasa. When Baekhyun is healthy, we are going to go to 2ne1 and figure out what to do okay? Don't freak out, you're better than that.” He sighed, doing that doubt again. It's been a while since I've seen him worried about this, he was doing better and getting good at being a leader. He hasn't had a panic attack since forever, and we don't think about it that much. “There is a lake on the side of the village, I felt it. Do you wanna go?” I nod, and he takes me there.

He smiles when he gets there, making small waves. He looks content, so I do the only thing I can think of; push him in. He can swim, so it's fine. I shove him and with a yelp, he disappears under the water, but not before grabbing my hand to try and stay balanced. I instinctively fly to keep myself above water and laugh as he is gone. But then he doesn't resurface, and I mildly get worried. I lean in closer to see if I can see him, but am met with a face full of water. That asshole! I fall back to the edge of the land and hear him cackle. “I can breathe underwater idiot!” He gets back up, laughing. Did I mention that when he got up, he got up  _ on  _ the water? “You… you can walk on water?”

“Yeah, I found out a few months before I met you. When I started having my dreams.”

“Jongdae would go insane seeing you like this. It would remind him of someone else.” Joonmyeon laughed, sitting on the water. “Wanna come?” He holds out his hand. “I don't think you've realized, but I can fly, not walk on water.”

“Hold my hand. Whoever is touching me can get the same effects with my powers. The same as how when we all stand with Jongin we all teleport,” I look at him for a moment and he smiles, “I solemnly swear to not push you into the water.” I take his hand. It's a test on my nerves to stand on the water, it feels solid but not at the same time, like standing on jello. “Look, not so bad.” 

“Considering the fact if you accidentally let go I plummet I'd say this is alright.” Myeon just hums in acknowledgment. “Your wings are huge.”

“Thanks, I know.” He rolls his eyes, “Can't you just say thanks and end it there like a normal person?” 

“Where's the fun in that?” We stand in silence for a little, it's comfortable. “Can we talk about it now?” We did finally have time to ourselves without the threat of imminent destruction. “Do you wanna start or should I?” Why is this so hard for me? I feel stupid. Luckily, he just gives a soft laugh. “I'll go. Kris I-”

“Guys guys guys guys!” It was Jongin, with Luhan in tow. I sigh, so much for talking about it. “You have to come to see what Sehun found!”

“Do we want to?” I ask. “Yeah you do! Luhan said the people had never seen it before today, and some of it is in Halliyun.” Joonmyeon helps me off the water and follows us.  _ “I saw that.”  _ Luhan said to me.  _ “Saw what?” _

_ “The thing, just know I saw. Jongin is oblivious, but I know,”  _ I looked at him, but he just gave me a small smile,  _ “Just tell him, you'll be fine.”  _ It is not as easy as he makes it sound. I sighed and Jongin teleported us to the side of the village where a few people and Chanyeol were crowding. Which was the backyard of Yixing's house. We moved through and saw what they were looking at: a small black or dark purple orb. It had gold lining all over it, along with Hain. “When Baekhyun wakes up we should ask him or take it when we go to 2ne1’s today.” Chanyeol practically lit up at Joonmyeon's words, actually scratch that his ears caught fire. “Really? Finally, it's been forever since we've seen them.”

“It's been a week.” 

“Anyway, should we touch it?” We looked at Chanyeol like he was stupid. “No. Touching things normally means they blow up or something bad happens.” Jongin said. “You're not the boss of me. Joonmyeon and Kris are. Should I touch it?”

“No.” we say at the same time. “Actually I change my mind, Minseok is the boss of me.” Then a window opened from Yixing's house and Minseok stuck his head out the window. “I don't know what's going on but Yixing says don't touch anything! Park Chanyeol put your hand back!” We looked back and Chanyeol slipped his hand away from the orb. “Turns out I'm a bad listener.” He smiles sheepishly. A few moments later Yixing comes outside with his hands glowing yellow. He picks it up and it vibrates, a symbol of a unicorn formed on its side. (I didn't laugh because Yixing probably would have put me to sleep.) Yixing's eyes glowed purple, then they came back to brown. “Are you okay?” Jongin asked. “I'm fine. Just tired.” He did look tired, sleepy. “Do you need to lay down or something?” 

“Yes, need to eat more than sleep though. Most people recharge by sleeping but if I heal myself I'm not tired, doesn't fix my hunger unfortunately.”

“Kyungsoo can cook.” Jongin said softly. More to himself most likely, than to Yixing. “Where is he anyway, didn't you go upstairs to talk to him?” I ask. “I don't know, I left out after we had… an argument. He's probably upstairs still.” He looked down. “It's fine Jongdae- I mean Jongin. Sorry,” Jongin shook it off and waved him off, “I can cook quite well. My grandmother taught me. If anyone wants something I've got it covered.” He begins to walk back to his house before looking at me.  _ “I'll collect Kyungsoo if needed.” _

_ “How did you learn how to talk like this?”  _ He gives a playful smile.  _ “How do you think Luhan knew where to find me? I told him how to get here and in return told me how to speak to him. It's how I've been speaking to Baekhyun.”  _

_ “What's wrong with Baekhyun?”  _ It wasn't me, but Luhan. What was he doing in my head? And he said it, in the loud… head voice area? I'm going to call it the ot12 talk. Well he said it out loud. They look at us.  _ “Luhan if you ever do that again…”  _ I couldn't finish my thought, my hand was in a fist. All I've asked from his powers was one thing, to never go in my head. “Kris please don't.” It's Myeon, who is looking at me. “Just don't do that Luhan. You know I hate people being in my head.  _ “I'm sorry. I just- I was just-” _

_ “Lu Ge it's okay. It's fine. Baekhyun is alright, I'll have you know he is just asleep. I can kinda talk to people in dreams and stuff. When I heal someone I can just poof into their dreams. Don't worry Kris, if I have to heal you I won't have access to your stuff. He is going to be resting but he'll wake up soon.”  _

“Thanks Yixing.” Chanyeol says. Yixing smiles and I notice he has a dimple. Then his body flows with bright yellow and he shakes, almost falling. He sighs when it happens and gets back up. “The one thing I can't heal, when I overuse my powers I get stupid tired and hungry.” 

“Okay,” Jongdae snaps his fingers, “We make you food, you take a nap, and you recharge. I know you don't need to sleep but if you wanna.” Yixing smiles again, and we go back to the house. Baekhyun and Kyungsoo are in his kitchen. It's mainly Kyungsoo cooking, and Baekhyun sitting on the table talking to him. Baekhyun looks healthy, his skin is no longer grey and the whites of his eyes are back to you know- white. His irises however, are yellow. “Oh thank god someone keep him company, I thought he'd be mellow and normal but he's hyperactive.”

“It's not my fault! You're the first people I've spoken to in a long time!” He was already brighter and looking normal. “Hey Baekhyun, if you are a Halliyun can you shapeshift?”

“I am currently in my human form. But then again I don't look too much different from a human, or any of you.” 

“Then doesn't this hurt more and take even more energy?” Baekhyun looked down, rubbing his arm. “No. I don't- don't like it. You won't like it at all,” He sighs and looks back to Kyungsoo. “Kyungsoo is making soup because Kyungsoo is basic.” Kyungsoo snorts. “I am not. I was going to make cabbage kimchi but no cabbage.” Yixing went to his cabinet and pulled out cabbage seeds. “Thank you,” Kyungsoo said, “But I don’t really think-” Yixing planted them in a really large pot with the words  **random foods** written in characters. He put his hands above it and he made a fully grown cabbage. “Will this do? It’s smaller than what I can normally make since I’m a little over-used.”

“Yeah, it’s more than enough.” Kyungsoo chopped about half of it and added it in. “I have decided, I am coming with you guys. I never cared for finding a Luxion or following them. Then I met you guys, and I almost wanted to come. Now, I have to come and I want to. I didn’t mean to hurt Baekhyun and I won’t do it again.”

“It’s not your fault, you didn’t know. Don’t feel bad, you repaid me by saving me.” Yixing nodded. He held the orb to Baekhyun, “Can you read this?”

“As if I’ve forgotten my own language.” He begins to take it from Yixing, only for it to shock him. The lights flickered to the point they almost popped and he drops it, saved by Luhan. “Maybe I could try-”

“No!” Baekhyun shouted at Jongdae who was going to pick it up, “No you must not. It’s bound to Yixing only. That means that only he can touch it, and it gives him power. That’s why it hurt me.”

“Does everyone have one?” Baekhyun nodded at Jongin, “Yes but they are from Halliyun and there haven’t been any on Earth. I don't know much about them considering I was like five when Halliyun fell. So that means... “ 

“We have to go to 2ne1.” I say. “What’s 2ne1?” Jongdae questions. “Not what, who. Eat the food, then we see the only Luxion looking out for us.”

 

* * *

 

After Yixing's full and happily back to making larger cabbages, we think about how the hell are we going to get there. None of us have pictures of it, but then I remember the news coverage of the circus. I pull up a YouTube video of the night, and show it to Jongin. “That is you?” Chanyeol cringes. “Yeah, long story.” 

“Anyway, it's blurry but it'll do. No guarantees that we end up in that exact spot. Anywhere in the coverage that is a little hidden? 12 boys popping out of nowhere isn't the most convenient thing.”

“The bushes over there,” Minseok points at them, “That might be the ones where Chaerin noona found let us through.” Jongin nodded. Yixing looked at him, “How does this work?”

“You can either hold hands or huddle, pick your poison.” Yixing clasped Baekhyun and Jongin's hands. “I like you all but huddling is awkward with this many people.” We hold hands and we poof. 

We end up not by the intended target but not too far away. We end up at the side of an apartment complex. “Hey, I told you the picture was blurry.” We walk on the street, little blue and peach-fish ribbons tied to lampposts and other poles. “What are these mean?” Yixing asked, then realized his mistake and turned red. “I mean  _ do.  _ My Korean may be good but I'm gonna mess up every now and then I promise.” Baekhyun then asked the same question to a woman passing by. “Well not too long ago, a circus was here and an alien set the tent on fire. However, luckily and surprisingly a different one fought him off while a third and fourth were putting out the fire with water and saving people who were inside! The blue ribbons represent the one fighting with ice and the one using water. Then, the cosmic latte is for the flying one.” I look over at Joonmyeon, who is smiling softly. I personally didn't know cosmic latte was even a colour. Baekhyun thanks the woman and walks back over to us. “She was so talking about you guys!” He whisper-shouted. It felt good, we're out there and for the first time not because of something bad. The grass was still burnt and had been tended to where the circus had been. I looked over at Yeol, who couldn't even look at us. “Why did I do that?” He was just saying it to himself, but we heard him. “The past is the past, work towards being different from that Chanyeol,” Zitao told him, “I don't know what happened here but you so would not have done this without a good reason. Right?” 

“Right,” Minseok answered for him, “Yeol is just very emotional when it comes to people he cares about. It got a little out of hand that's all.” We don't talk for some time, don't even move until Yixing Yixing kneels by the dead grass. He puts up his hand, and red wildflowers appear in a circle, covering the dead. “Even from the worst situations can something beautiful appear. See, you've helped make something beautiful Chanyeol.” A quick smile from the younger brother, and we walked through the bushes. “What's this?” Joonmyeon asked me softly, moving my fingers so the dragon tattoo was visible. “I'll tell you later.” He looked up at me with disbelief. “Promise Myeon. I will.” I knock on the door to the safe house disguised as a convenience store.  _ “You sure this is the place?”  _ Luhan questions. None of us has time to answer because the door is blown open and we are met with a smiling Dara. She lets out a gasp and looks at all of us. “My god you tripled! Come in all twelve of you! Girls I told you they're not dead! Come down come down!” 

“This is Dara,” Chanyeol says as we walk in, “My older cousin.” 

“I can see the resemblance.” Kyungsoo murmured. 

“Ah,” Chaerin says as she walks in with Min Ji behind her. “Good to see you all again, although we'd prefer if you at least called so we didn't have to think you were dead.” 

“However we trusted you enough. You have two leaders, the workload should be easier.” Min Ji followed up. “Bom is coming she's probably putting on all 300 of her clothing layers- is this Luhan?” Dara asked, pointing at Luhan, who nodded. She smiled and began to talk to him until he plugged his ears and laughed.  _ “You think too hard Ms. Dara. Please, just think like normal thoughts.”  _ I heard the sound of metal hitting wood rhythmically, and Bom appeared. However, fewer layers. She was still wearing a long sleeved shirt and jeans, but her gloves were gone and so were her sunglasses and mask. Near her right eye was a silver plate instead of the pink one from last time on the outside that went down to her ear, it looked like it had been painted with pink symbols on it. Her left eye was also healing and green, which was different from her right eye which was yellow or gold. On her neck, four green rings circled it. Her hair was also a dark red. “This is our Bom, she's a genius.”

“Not really,” She tells Dara, “I just understand a lot of things.” Our Luxion introduces themselves, but 2ne1 do a double take on Baekhyun. They talk to him in Hain, who nods. They smile and continue to speak to him. “They asked him if he was Halliyun because of his eyes.” Bom began to talk to Kyungsoo who quickly shook his head. “I can only speak and understand Hain, I am not fully Halliyun like him.” 

“Sorry,” Dara says, “We just thought we were…”

“The last ones.” Min Ji finished. “Halliyun is a dying race, Earth was our last hope and not even here we are welcome. Except for in the Bijeongsang district, but no one goes there. It is a terrible place and you have to tell me if you ever go.” Chaerin says. We mutually agree to never tell her about when we went there. “I've only met two others but I started fading and couldn't go out.” Their faces turned sorrowful. “I'm sorry,” Min Ji said, “I know it hurts.”

“But they came and they saved me. Yixing really had to pull through, he's probably still tired but I already know he is going to say he isn't.” I notice a small black squiggle on Bom's finger when Baekhyun is talking, and the more I look the more I realize it isn't just a squiggle. I hold up my left hand, and the room goes silent. 2ne1 looks at it before figuring out I have the same dragon as Bom. “No… it can't be. Who did you pick Kris?” She asks me, her voice sounds heartbroken. I don't say anything.  _ “What are you talking about?” _

“Maybe it's best if some of you aren't standing up for this.” We move to the sofas where Bom sits on the floor. She spreads her hand and a larger image of the dragon appears. It was curled as if it was sleeping unlike mine or Bom's which was out wide. “Dragons are mythical to you, yes, but on Halliyun they were quite real. This dragon specifically was not one of the good ones. It meant tests and hardships were coming. If you saw it in a dream, it meant a lost chance and a time to redeem yourself. Normally it shows itself to Halliyun who were supposed to be leaders, but fate changed. It gives you the same choice every person it asks, you or another member. You never know the question they are asking it for, but picking yourself means misfortune on everyone else and suffering.”

“What happens if you pick someone else?” I question. Although, I don't know if I want to know the answer. “The dragon, that we call Eidain, will place you under tests. Mentally and emotionally and sometimes physically he will make your life hell. Even if you pass all the tests there is a final one, and no matter what something will happen to you. It will make you prove yourself to him and if he likes your spirit and heart he will give you immense power.”

“If he doesn't accept you?”

“You lose something,” She looked down, “I lost my hands, eye, neck, and legs to Eidian. You don't always lose a piece of you like this though, I am not as strong as others.”

“Has anyone died?” She is silent. “I have never known anyone but I have heard of it. Two girls, half-borns. But no full Halliyun has ever died, nor have they ever been accepted. Everyone loses with Eidian, I doubt it is possible to win, only survive what he gives you.” Am I… am I going to die? What did I sacrifice for him? “Why did you ask who he chose?” Sehun asked. “Because he has 24 hours to ask them, and switch fates.” My Luxion looks at me, as if I would ever switch with them. “Well, we're going to give you time. I should expect you to know where the rooms are.” Chaerin says. Bom looks back at me and grabs my hand, her metal against my skin makes me wonder what happens when I come out of this. “I'm so sorry Kris.” 

“Don't apologize, it shows weakness. Above all, this is not your fault noona.” We walk back to the room, the tension inside feels like Baekhyun could light it up and you'll see it. Each one of them looked at each other in a way that screamed “who killed Kris” and I could not stand it. “No. I'm not telling you who.”

_ “Why?”  _ Luhan pleads,  _ “Trade with us please!”  _

“No. I'm not letting any of you suffer.”

_ “It's one of our lives too, we should have this choice!” _

“It's my choice!” I made my voice over Luhan's. “It was my dream and my choice! And I chose to let you all be safe over me!” I sit down on the floor, the room is giant and has space for all of us. Apparently they adapt to what is needed, and we'd need space for twelve of us. It reminded me of Sicheng, and I wondered how he was doing. I think I made it tenser, Luhan had his knees to his chest. “You guys wanted to know why I never said anything good about parents, why I didn't say goodbye,” Sehun sighs and rubs his the side of his face, “It's not just teenage angst, teenage angst is just there in it. They're not my real parents, biological at least. I don't know what happens to my parents, I was too young to remember. They adopted me when I was three, and I was a late bloomer. Halliyun who have powers that don't come at age three finally get them at five or never at all, and from what you've seen I'm pretty sure you know what happened to me. When they found out I had powers I found out they didn't want me, they wanted a human. They wanted normal which I wasn't. But they didn't give me away, they don't want me dead just not with them. I never once ever called them mom and dad so me disappearing doesn't mean much to them. There you have it, my story. Who's next, I didn't say this to be the only one exposing themselves.” I guess talking time starts now according to Sehun. Tao sat up. “I guess I am. My life was pretty normal for a half-born. Also adopted but back when I was one. My mom and I, we tried to live in Korea but it just didn't work. I was bullied and I could only go back so far at age seven, so we ended up in China again. Then she realized we could help Halliyun by setting up our house for anyone who needed rest, and that's how it started. I made a mistake though, trying to save someone's life. I wanted them to live but it created such a rip in time for some reason that I didn't understand then but I do now. I had to do so many things just to get our world back to normal, and even then ya know… I'm still technically 14 so not everything is perfect. It scared me, I didn't ever want to go back ever again.”

“Why did it make a hole?” Tao looked at Jongin and then me, “He had a dragon like yours, Kris. His fate was sealed and I couldn't change it. I'm not going to ask who it is, but only you can change yours for 24 hours.”

“I have until noon tomorrow, but I'm not switching.” Yixing catches my eye, “Good luck then, be safe. My turn. I never knew my parents, a common theme it seems. I was raised by my grandparents in the village. I never knew the world outside of it well, because I didn't want to. It's safe in there, and I feel like I have people to help. I can heal burns in a matter of minutes, and dying people are obviously not a problem, but I am. I have hemophilia, one little cut can kill me. I spend every moment of every day making sure I can't be hurt, and I thought going out here would make everything worse. When Sicheng left I knew to stay there wouldn't be right for me. Keeping myself away from this Luxion, I couldn't do it anymore. Now I've got 11 people to stay out here with, I'm not alone.” Baekhyun smiled at him, and he decided to go. “We were some of the last ones off Halliyun, I was born into a world on its way to disaster. I remember we tried to start a life in Korea, but they found us when I was seven…” It doesn't take a genius to know the  _ they  _ he was referring to as he took a breath. “You don't have to say anything. If you can't do it, we won't make you.”

“I need to get this out, if I don't I might just drop dead from keeping it inside. My mom hid me in the cupboard, but the Wasps gave them no mercy. Right there I heard noises, my mom scream and then I couldn't help it I opened the cupboard just a crack and saw them both. They were just there and then, gone. I have been on my own since, just trying to make it.” None of us even remotely know what to say to Baekhyun so we don't. Yixing however, hugs him. Baekhyun accepts it, and begins to cry softly and silently but I still saw him as Yixing held him. Neither of them says anything as they listen to Luhan start.  _ “My story is quick, nothing special. Born in China had a father and mother and used to talk. Father died and my mom became paranoid and I couldn't use my powers or leave my house so they got unstable and it sped up my fading. If I opened my mouth everyone near me would hear all the voices from thoughts I could, so I stopped speaking. One time I said just one word and my sister's left ear became deaf. It made me scared but then as fate would have it they finally found me. A happy ending.”  _ Luhan smiled,  _ “Thank you for a happy ending.”  _

_ “Our job Lu.”  _ Joonmyeon says. 

Jongin and Kyungsoo share a look across the room before Jongin starts talking. “Kyungsoo and I, our stories go hand in hand. My life was pretty normal until I accidentally teleported into his bedroom when I was young. It was only for a second so I didn't really see him, but when I was like 10 I saw him again with a group of his friends. He remembered me though. Kyungsoo has a temper, and because of that extremely short fuse of his, his mother keeps moving him around to different schools to see if he'll do better. His mother has been like this since his father die- disappeared.”

“She doesn't care about me sometimes.”

“We got in trouble a lot, the worst thing we did was what steal a car? Kyungsoo can drive and I hotwired it. Kyungsoo did bad things to get a thrill, I did it because it was with Kyungsoo. He's a bad influence on me, but I liked him. Like really liked him. We were together for about five months and broke up sometime in July, just before you came. Since it's very clear on Jongdae's face he wants to know why I shall spill. He kept things from me, important things. Like that he was a half-born too, and that we were in the same Luxion. And I'm still mad at you, the fact I slept on you means nothing.” 

“You not telling me to move when we teleported here and I ended up holding your hand does.” Jongin poofed over to Kyungsoo, hit the back of his head, and then poofed back to his spot. “You know Jongin, I did all of that stupid shit to impress you also. Jongdae, you have to tell us how you ended up in a church now.” Kyungsoo said, throwing a pebble at him. Jongin's mouth dropped open at what Kyungsoo said, but Jongdae already started talking. “Fine. Again never knew my parents blah blah blah, ended up at the doorstep of the church. Umji and I grew up together, she’s the daughter of the pastor. I lived there, learned to control my powers. Until one day I couldn’t. It had rained and then there were all of these people, I don’t remember but one of them tried to do something and I blinked and the next thing I knew they were de- dead. Burned and electrocuted.  _ I  _ did it to them. Even though they made me mad I didn’t mean to. I was just so scared.” 

“We believe you,” I tell him, he looks around and the others nod in confirmation, “We don’t know you that well but we don’t think you would do that kind of thing unless you had to. You don’t even use your powers.”

“Yeah, but it seems like I’m going to have to start soon.” He looks at the rosary around his wrist. Chanyeol sighed and patted his arm. “You're gonna be okay. It'll take a lot of time, but before that, you have to make peace with yourself somewhat.” I gave a half smile remembering where he heard those words. “Guess it's our turn then huh?” Minseok said. He ran a hand through his hair and spoke, “Mine ties into Chanyeol at the end. You could've told me I was born into that circus and I would've believed you, still would. I've never known anything since before then. Spent my life at the mercy of a power-hungry Halliyun slave owner of a man, and hated almost every moment of it. Almost because I loved performing. It was the closest to being happy with my powers I'd ever been. I loved getting up on those ropes and I used to tell myself if I swung far enough maybe I'd get out of that hell and rip a hole through the tent. Could do that though, cause when I was eight I met my little brother here.”

“Wait,” Yixing said, moving his arm from around Baekhyun, “You two are not actually brothers?” The room went silent, until Chanyeol started laughing and so did the rest of us. “Yixing I mean this with great respect and kindness, but how the hell did you think we were related? We don't look remotely alike. It doesn't help that my last name is Kim and his is Park.” Minseok said still laughing. “Oh my gosh, I feel really dumb right now.” Yixing said putting his head in his hands as he laughed out of embarrassment. It made the air feel better, like we could make it through the night without more crying or the intense fear of death. “So I met Yeol when I was eight as I said, but we found him. They make us choose from a few they found for new acts, and I got to pick. I knew I had to pick him no matter what, and I did.”

“Aw, you loved me from the moment you met me?” 

“No, but you may not like the reason. I saw your mother, she ran and the first thing she told me was she had a son with brown hair that was to his shoulders and large ears. She told me to pick you, and when I saw you I did.” 

“No,” Chanyeol shook his head, “No I know she died the moment they came and Dara hid me I knew she was dead.”

“What were her powers?”

“When she slept, for 10 minutes she could travel out of body to wherever she wanted. I guess when they killed her, she spent her last minutes saving me… why didn't you ever tell me?” 

“She told me not to, not until we found all of our Luxion.” 

“And if we didn't?” Minseok didn't say anything, didn't look at him. “Minseok if we didn't? What if Yixing had stayed? Would you have told me?”

“I don't know. It was of the only things she ever asked me, I wouldn't go against her.” Chanyeol didn't get mad like I thought he would, instead he asked a question, “What did- what did she look like? I can't remember well enough.” Minseok took off his gloves and made a small statue in his hands. “Long brown hair like yours, you got your big ears from her too. She was tall, had slightly round cheeks and yellow eyes. You have her nose. It's all I can remember, I don't know if it's good enough.”

“It's perfect.” Chanyeol took the ice figurine and held it. Minseok's hands were becoming more discoloured, and Luhan was holding it again tracing the patterns that the rest of us couldn't see that he believed in so greatly. Honestly, with all the weird shit going on I wouldn't be surprised if they did mean something. The brothers look up at Joonmyeon and I as if to let us know we're the only ones left. “I was born in China to my mum and my dad. We were happy there I thought. One day when I was seven we were just going on a family drive my dad said, so we all got in the car and drove. Then I noticed something, something yellow and black under the seat. For a trained operative he could've hidden his suit better. I was old enough to know what a Wasp suit looked like. I screamed at him, angry and saw on his face that he had this planned. We were going to Wasp headquarters, probably to die. There was nothing I could do but blast through the glass and save my mom. Until he tried to shoot at me. I don't know what happened it was like a power up but my wings turned from normal feathers to metal plated. It was like a defense mechanism that I haven't been able to do since. And then I hit him with them and we ran. Got the first ticket to Canada even though all of my English was from Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies. Spent the rest of my childhood trying to figure out where you guys were, learning English, and playing basketball. I didn't want to ever go back to China and definitely not with you all. If I saw him, I don't know if I'd be able to do anything to stop myself from doing something. My line was “a boy born out of betrayal” and my father betrayed my mother. It makes me afraid to let people in because they'll know my weaknesses and, just like him, use them to hurt me.” There is another part to the story, but I don't share it with everyone.  _ “He clipped my wings Joonmyeon, it took months for them to even begin become the same again. I couldn't fly for two years. I can't forgive him.” _

_ “I wouldn't either, and I wouldn't stop you from confronting him.”  _ I don't know if that is a good or bad thing, but he starts talking and I don't have time to ask. “Mine wasn't a lifelong thing, it didn't have anything leading up to it. It could've happened to any Halliyun or half-born, but it happened to us. Me and my friend Kwanghee, we were playing outside. I was 11, I should've known better. The fire hydrant had been opened so kids could run around and play with it. Kwanghee was my only Halliyun friend, the only other Halliyun for the next few blocks. He hung out with me even though he was three years older than me. I started to mess around with the water. Wasps saw me and they thought it was me. I panicked and the water just went out of control. He put his hands out as if he was the one doing it, and they took him away. It would've been okay if he was a half-born but he wasn't. He was full Halliyun, and he didn't even have powers to begin with. I can still see him being taken away, I was stupid and reckless and got my friend killed for me. It's been years, but I still remain every single thing down to the exact colour of his shoes. Red and blue. I was just so stupid why did I think it was a good idea to use them in the first place? He could be living his life if I hadn't done that.” My first instinct is to grab his hand and tell him something  _ anything  _ to make him feel better, but Jongin teleported over and hugged him. Then Yixing hugged us both, ending with a giant group hug. Then we hear a sniff. “Baekhyun don't cry.” Jongdae says softly. “It's not me.” We look at each other's faces until we hear Jongin go, “DO KYUNGSOO ARE YOU CRYING?”

“I have a right to feelings and emotions ya know.” His eyes are red as he flicks a pebble at Jongin who poofs out of its path. “We should all go to bed now,” Joonmyeon tells them, “The rooms in this place are practically infinite, everyone can have their own for a change.” We let them say their goodbyes, and I notice Yixing whispering something to Minseok before they part. So it's just me and Joonmyeon again, but this time there's no time for what we wanted to talk about on the lake. There is no time, because Joonmyeon is crying and as of now that is my first priority to take care of. I pull him into a hug, and he accepts it immediately. “Myeon, it's okay.”

“It's not I killed him!” 

“Listen you did not kill him the Wasps did. He protected you.”

“Protecting me ended his life.”

“Wouldn't you have done the same?” His hands bury themselves in my shirt as he shakes and lets out a sob. It takes him a long time, and I don't mind it. I run my hand through his hair, trying to give him some comfort. “Kris who?” I know what he's referring to, I don't want to answer. “Please out of all things don't keep this from me.” He looks up at me, his blue eyes shining sadly. I think somewhere deep down he already knows the answer. I can barely get the words out of my mouth. “You Myeonie, it was you.” He covers his mouth with his hand and places his head on my chest as he cries. I’ve seen him have a panic attack, I’ve seen him when he is under pressure and doesn’t know what to do, but I’ve never seen him this vulnerable. “Yes.”

“What?” I ask him, I was confused. “Yes we can trade Kris.”

“I never asked. You can't trade if I don't ask.” He cried softly, and I pulled him closer. “I don't want you to die for me.”

“Then I won't.” He gives a bitter laugh, “You don't know that.”

“You don't want me dead, so I refuse to die.” He holds out his pinky. “Promise me.” I link our pinkies, “I promise Kim Joonmyeon that I will live.” He doesn't let go, as if the action will cause me to stop breathing. So he holds my hand and intertwined our fingers. We spend some time on that floor; one of us crying periodically and the other being there to calm him down. I am scared, Eidain could take something from me that I'd never want to give away, I'm sure of it. But he can have it, my promise was not to die and that is what I'll do.

 

_ “Hey Kris!” Baekhyun said, smiling at me when I walk out of one of the bedroom. We're in the safe house all together. Kyungsoo was cooking and Jongin was near him, they were being kind to each other. Chanyeol and Minseok were messing around, with Luhan laughing at them. “Myeon left us without supervision,” Sehun said, “It was a bad idea. He is outside.” I walk out to the backyard area. There is a small pond and he is standing on it. “Hi Kris.” I smile at him. “Hey, when do we find start finding the Gasas?”  _

_ “We'll be fine. Just relax for now, or as long as you need. Come up here with me.” I grab his hand and stand on the water. I look down at our feet. “You won't drop me?” _

_ “No idiot. I want you up here of course.” I hold his hand a little tighter. “Do you know what to do? How do we save ourselves?” _

_ “We're safe right now, and we can be safe here.” That's when I felt weird. “Myeon, are you good?” _

_ “Yeah,” He smiled, “I'm fine.” Again, it didn't feel good. Then I let go of him. I stay on top of the water. I knew it, the safe house had no real backyard and definitely not a pond. “You're not real. You're not my Joonmyeon.” He laughs a meanancing one. “You're right, I'm Eidian. Now let me see... what would have happened if you had stayed here in this falseness?” A flick of his wrist and I turn. The safe house exploded, and then reverses and turns me back to Joonmyeon. But this time it isn't Joonmyeon. He has yellow-green wild hair and pale skin, accompanied by a suit shirt and dress pants. “I thought you were a dragon.”  _

_ “Many forms something like me would have, but a dragon is how I'm normally shown so yes I am a dragon.” _

_ “Was this a test?” _

_ “A small one. To see if you really knew your Luxion. It was too perfect wasn't it? You're quick, I like that. None of your members are that carefree, it's a shame really. It makes me feel bad for mortals, always forced to worry about consequences and fate.” _

_ “Don't you make our fates?” _

_ “Of course not, I don't care for any of you like that. I only wish to show you more of what you could be, and the chance to change your fate. Why did you turn down my offer?” I have to think about it, what was my reason? I had wanted to be the main leader in the first place. “Because Joonmyeon is stronger than you think.” _

_ “Suho. His name is Suho, Yifan. Joonmyeon is just his name on this planet. The name that holds power however, is Suho.” I didn't understand. “It's alright that you don't grasp the power of names quite yet, ask 2ne1 for help. If you are wondering I can read every thought you have as long as I am within your dreams. All of your feelings and emotions that you try so hard to hide belong to me. Your thoughts on your mother, your thoughts of your father, your thoughts of Joonmyeon…” _

_ “Leave him out of this.” I say lowly. Eidian circles around me, “You know, Bom was quite close to making it. She just couldn't pass that one little test, you know, the one where you lose something. Out of the blue she just couldn't do it. So I took some of her as well as her ability to shapeshift. You see, I only take when you lose to me.” _

_ “What are you going to steal from me?” He lets out another laugh. “It is not stealing you made the choice!” _

_ “Excuse me for not reading the fine print.”  _

_ “I like you,” He looks at my face with a sly eye as if planning the best way to kill me, “You know what you want to say to me and say it. Oh, and believe me when I say I can tell how much power Suho has even if he does not. It seems that only you really know the full extent of what you can do, but even then you can't recreate that strength you had when you were just a child. Keep up being enjoyable and maybe I'll help you save your people. It makes me wonder however if you have any fear at all. Let's find out, shall we Yifan?” I watch his fingers snap and I plunge into the water below. _

 

I wake up gasping and grabbing at the bedsheets. It's still night. I don't know what Eidian has coming for me, I just know I'm not ready. I lay back down next to Joonmyeon, but I know sleep isn't coming for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy belated Valentine's day! Because of how much I love you guys if you read my other two stories know that I updated them all today as a gift! Thank you for taking time to read Exodus and I hope you enjoy the chapters to come!


	19. We meet 7 smarter people

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feburary is a jacked month just saying so enjoy this update on the fake 30th

Despite the title, no they aren't from our Luxion. They're a whole different Luxion, but I'll get to that later.

We've stayed at 2ne1’s place for three days now per Yixing's request. He says even though Baekhyun is no longer fading he isn't healthy enough to be looking for the third Gasa, especially because we don't even know where it is. We believe him, Baekhyun hasn't been in the best condition of sorts. He mostly stays in the room he and Yixing share, even though there are unlimited rooms Yixing stays and gives him extra boosts. Yixing says it is because he never got the chance to properly adapt to Earth and so his body is doing it now. When he does come out, it's to practice changing form with Min Ji. He's been in human for so long it seems to hurt him to change. He also refuses to change in front of us, claiming he hates it but needs to know how. Once I was walking past and I saw his hand changing back to human form, all I could really see was that he had paper white skin. We've been with six Hain speakers that we've actually picked up a few words although they laugh at our pronunciation sometimes. We all manage to keep busy, working to have complete control of the powers we all used to never use for longer than a minute.

Kris however, was already worrying me. He's withdrawn, quiet, and visibly tired. When I try to ask him about it he just gives me a stupid smile and tells me he's going to be fine. Kris sometimes is a terrible liar. I ask Bom, and she says that the first few days are all like this. Eidian pops in whenever he wants, keeps you awake and afraid of interactions with people you’re close to, and then does it until you grow stronger or until he gets tired of it. Just another reason we stay in and around the safehouse, but there is also a third. The fact some of our faces are known.

Chanyeol, Minseok, Kris, Luhan, and I were all identified when we stopped the explosion. No names but enough description not for a police sketch (thank god) but for us to be a little recognizable. Still, we don’t risk going too far. There’s too much on our plates for anything to slow us down right now, or blow the one safe home we’ve got. 

All of us have been scouring through the texts 2ne1 has in their library, hoping any of them hold the answers to where the third Gasa may be located. Their library was like a giant never ending spiral in their safehouse, we had a lot of ground to cover. A copy of every book from Earth and Halliyun was in here. So far, from everything that’s been translated they mostly say the same thing: the Exodus shall be reborn and find the true purpose of the Gasas, giving Halliyun life once again or something equally as dramatic. We always get nervous when we hear that we will bring Halliyun life again, but Chaerin's words saved us from thinking about dropping this plan to save the world. “Halliyun isn't a planet it's a people, a people we protect. Bring the Gasas together, and we save everyone.” However none of the drama tells us how to actually  _ find  _ it.  _ “What if it’s not here,”  _ Luhan says,  _ “What if it was lost on Halliyun when it got destroyed?”  _

“Well we know Halliyun was never destroyed the way we thought it was, Lay’s orb fell from the sky the day all 12 of you finally got together. No such thing as coincidences when it comes to fate.” Chaerin says. Kris told us that Eidian had told him our Halliyun names, for those who had them. We practiced using them so we wouldn’t risk our real names. The only people without them were Kris, Chanyeol, Sehun, Baekhyun, Tao, and Luhan. Using them also gives more power in a way, and I wondered why Baekhyun didn’t have a Halliyun name when he was Halliyun. I never had the time to ask him considering he was rarely out of his room until today with all of us going through even more of their extensive library of bullshittery. When I ask the question he laughs softly, “My Halliyun name  _ is  _ Baekhyun, as is the case for all of you without two names.”

“Does that mean our power is already stronger?” Chanyeol asked. “No, having two names gives a form of strength to half-borns and Halliyun. You all with one name will have the same amount of power.” Chaerin says. Chanyeol deflates and Minseok laughs at him. “Even though it gives me no power, I was called Buoxian by some people.” Yixing smiles at Baekhyun, “Buoxian sounds Chinese.”

“I have the Chinese skill of a goldfish Yixing, but I thank you for the compliment.” I haven't been doing much reading today since Baekhyun has left his room, but I have spent most of it drawing. He asks for animals from Halliyun, and I try my best even though I've never seen them. I've drawn seven different animals for him in total today. I personally don't think it's the best but he tells me he loves every one. “Hey guys! Guys I can't read but I trust this book!” 

“Why Kyungsoo?” I yell back up. I can't see him, mainly because he's so far up in here. According to 2ne1, Bom has read every book but the top shelf. Frankly, I'm afraid to have that much free time. Then, there's the echo of shaking coming down to us, and we already know what happened. Kyungsoo fell, his voice followed soon after. 

Luhan was quick to save the book, the first thing he saw fall. Kris who I forgot was even in the library with how quiet he was compared to the rest of us was ready to grab Kyungsoo, but Jongin teleported to Kyungsoo and got him quickly. “Idiot.” Jongin grumbled before dropping him. Luhan tossed him the book and Kyungsoo put it on the one of many tables in here. “Hey Baek, help us out okay?” He read over the page Kyungsoo pointed out, mumbling to himself. Then his eyes widened, and he called Chaerin over. They talked about it and then looked at us. “The Gasa, it’s here. It's on Earth, it's been on Earth. Look, this book says it was lost when Halliyun first tried to reach Earth. We didn't make it, we ended up on your moon.” 

“How do you miscalculate so badly you end up on the moon?” Jongdae asks Chaerin, who was in charge of giving us this information. “No clue, but where do you think those craters came from?” Huh, never thought of it that way. “Anyway, we took it as a way to help guide us. You see that Gasa called the Jintai Gasa held spells, mainly Halliyun without powers could use it the best. They must have brought it as a way to use a guidance spell, and lost it. It most likely fell here. We have gotta tell Bom, maybe we can figure out to track it.” She grabbed the book and we followed her to Bom's room, who threw her door open at the same time. “I've got something!” They both yelled at the same time. “We know the Jintai is on Earth and we need your help to track it! You go!”

“I know what the Wasps are making!” They are quiet for a few seconds until Dara comes through. “Bom's is more important take it away girl!” 

“Get Min Ji, you all need to be here for it.” Soon, we were sitting in the main room with Bom hitting the lights. Her palms spread and she makes a holographic image before placing the picture over the table so she can walk around it and explain. 

She had her hair twisted into a bun with three different types of pencil stuck in it, an oversized grey sweater and matching pajama pants complete with horn-rimmed glasses. Bom hasn't left her room much in the three days like Baekhyun but instead of being in intense pain she's been working constantly to see what the Wasps above the patrollers were planning and how they were going to suck the life out of Earth and give it to a fallen planet. “This Earth we live on was called by many Halliyun scientists Light Earth. They knew this was the main Earth, but there were six other Earths. Five of them are small and have little differences; like Joonmyeon is 20 instead of 17 or something like that. Although not confirmed, the sixth Earth has evidence of being a parallel world to ours they call Dark Earth.”

“So does that mean if it were real there are 12 girls doing what we're doing right now?” 

“Not exactly,” Bom said to Sehun who asked the question, “They'd all be connected to the same Halliyun world. You all could very well be in that Earth just with parallel personalities, or not exist at all. None of us could exist on Dark Earth, a whole different batch of half-borns and humans could be there. Anyway it's too confusing to explain for something that probably doesn't exist. Please look at this.” Her hologram had all six Earths lined up horizontally with Halliyun at the far left, very far left, “This is a scale model of the distance between each Earth, let's estimate each is 10,000 closer than the moon is to Light Earth which is in the middle. Now if you have three more Earths and Halliyun being far away as hell it would take forever to get there. Halliyun technologies made it so we can make it to Earth but only a one time use. So scientists had a theory; that if you could possibly fold the space in between the Earths you could transport to Halliyun quickly. The theory isn’t that it’s possible the theory is that won’t kill you.” A line went through the planets, and folded into waves. The distance shrunk considerably. Bom looked at us, “All you'd have to do then is rip a hole in between the open space and you could make it. But ripping a hole between realities is not only dangerous but hard to do. You'd need a power source incredibly large to do it and something equally as large to begin taking power from Earth.”

“Like me?” Chanyeol asked grimly. “Unfortunately yes. If they found a way to get your powers and use it as a source they could sustain it and have extra to begin to steal from Earth. But don’t worry, you’d have to make a portal to even rip through the realities to get to Halliyun. The only Halliyun who even has the remote power to do that is Jongin.” 

“M-Me? I can only teleport and even then I’m unreliable when we’re under pressure.” 

“Ah I get it,” Dara said, “The Halliyun blue moon is soon isn’t it? In 13 days. It gives Halliyun and half-borns untapped power you can only do then. Halliyun has way more blue moons than Earth does, so this has probably happened multiple times without any of you noticing. Considering you can teleport, opening portals is what you can do Jongin.”

_ “They probably have seen us, that was such a scene if other Wasps didn't pick it up a news source did. They’re counting on us being there. At least on Jongin.” _

“Then we don’t show problem solved.” Kris decides, and it sounds like a good idea. None of us want to show anyway. Crisis averted we can all go home now- “Maybe so, but they’re smarter than that. We at least need to find the third Gasa before they do. You said it was somewhere on Earth?” Son of a bitch we still have to do stuff. “Yeah,” Chaerin puts the book on the table. “I’m pretty sure it’s near here. Can you see where the moon was when Halliyun tried to come to Earth the first time?” Bom looked at her as if she was crazy. “You want me to try and dig up obscure information from 300 years ago? About Earth?” Chaerin shrugged her shoulders, as if this was a simple task. Bom sighed. “Place your bets people. Let’s figure out where the moon was 300 years ago and the specific time as well as the side the ship crashed onto and all the other variables that most likely will be impossible to find.” 

 

* * *

 

“Japan,” I grumbled, “I can’t believe it landed in fricking Japan.” We gave a smiling Baekhyun 10,000 won each, and everyone who didn’t bring money had to promise him food for later. I’m surprised no one but Baekhyun picked Japan. “Kanagawa Prefecture to be exact.” Bom replied. “Kanagawa huh? Can you guys do me a favour when you get there?” Dara asked. “There is this Luxion I met a few months before you guys first came. They stayed for a little. However one of them is like a genius, almost as smart as our Bommie. Anyway though, we could use his help on seeing what the Gasas put together could make and even if we have to making something that could counterattack the Wasps. Don’t worry about looking for them too hard. Just ask around who the aliens are and I’m sure someone will help you out.” 

“Great,” Minseok says putting his gloves on, “Let’s get going. Someone go pull up a picture of Kanagawa Prefecture.” 

“No no no,” Min Ji is quick to stop us from poofing away. “You all have already been recognized enough. No need for the public to get an even better image on you all. At least the siblings, Lu, Kris and Myeon need to get a little revamped.” I had a sinking feeling that meant dyeing my hair, which I never wanted to do in the first place. Kris and Minseok looked unaffected, Luhan and Chanyeol looked excited.  _ “Can I dye my hair pink?”  _

“Whatever colour you want Lu.” Chanyeol also had a colour in mind. “Can I have red? I always wanted to have red hair but Minseok hyung told me no.” Min Ji gave him a sympathetic smile, “Yeol we’re going to have to do more than just dye your hair. There are two main ways you’ve been identified; one is your incredibly large ears which we can’t change and the other is…” Chanyeol’s eyes widened in horror when he caught on. He took a step back. “No. No one is cutting my hair. I refuse!” However, he knew resistance was futile. “Let me guess, you’re going to make me go natural with my curly hair again huh?” We were meant to take it as sarcasm, but Bom smiled, “You’d look cute! Like a puppy!” He looked to his brother for help, but Minseok just put his hands up. “You suggested it little brother.”

“I hope you contract a mysterious illness,” Then he sighed, “Fine. If you’re going to do this to me please make me look cute. Not like a puppy, but like something girls would like.”

“So a puppy.” He mimes choking Kyungsoo, who just smirked. How have they actually not killed one another? I have no clue. We follow Min Ji to a bathroom, watching Chanyeol touch his hair every now and then. “Chanyeol is going first, you have the most to be done.” He looked at Min Ji reluctantly. Minseok patted his back. “Good luck Yeol.” 

 

Some time later, everyone's hair is drying and Kris and I are sitting next to each other. I can't help but think I did this to him, and in a way I did. “I don't have to read your thoughts to know what you're thinking right now.” I sometimes hate that I wear my emotions on my face, but I can't help it. “It's not your fault. I picked to do this so you wouldn't have to.”

“Did you ever think that I could do it? That maybe I was willing to do this? I don't want you to keep having to go through this until god knows how long.” 

“I'm taking one for the team, you don't deserve to have to go through it.”

“You have all day to ask, please ask me.” I didn't want to do whatever Kris is doing, but I didn't want Kris to be doing it more. “No.” I was mad even though I didn't deserve to be mad. “Kris please.”

“I promised you I'd stay alive didn't I? No reason for you to take up what I've been holding onto.” I knew from the start I wouldn't win this ever, “Let's focus on everything else alright? We have to find others and find the Jintai Gasa.” Kris said kindly. Ah yes a distraction. “May I present to you: new and improved Park Chanyeol.” Min Ji said. 

Chanyeol had been finished for a long time, but he refused to come out until everyone else was done. The last person to finish was Tao, who wanted his hair dyed white. Kris had threw out that I should dye my hair just a lighter brown since I was really against dyeing my hair. It was nice, not too bad but I missed my darker hair. Kris had simply washed out his own dye and had black hair now. Luhan had the pink he asked for, and Minseok ended up with dark turquoise ombre with his roots his normal black.  _ “Yeol she introduced you come out.”  _

“I regret this! I miss my hair!” Minseok couldn't help but laugh. “Seok!”

“Oops.” 

“Just come out already!” Kyungsoo exclaims. “Fine!” Chanyeol quickly steps into the room. For all the complaining he did, he looked good. He had his dyed red hair as he asked. It was cut just above his ears and very curly. I mean, very curly. It was cut just above his ears, did I mention that? Like a normal haircut, he finally had normal hair. Min Ji had did good. He had put on a hoodie and was pushing all of his hair under it. “You don't look bad.” Sehun said to him. “Sounds fake but okay.” Chanyeol couldn't help but touch where his hair would have stopped every so often as if he couldn't believe it was gone. “Guys be nice to Yeol about his hair, he almost cried when I started snipping away.”

“Noona!” The redhead exclaimed, “You promised you wouldn't tell!” Min Ji just shrugged. “Love you Yeol.”

“Can't tell.” He mumbled before sitting on the couch. Kyungsoo pulled his hood off which made Chanyeol burn him, only to have Yixing sit in the middle of them an9d heal Kyungsoo. “So are we all ready? I've always wanted to go to Japan even if this isn't for fun.” Jongin said smiling. “Well even if you're not going for fun still bring money,” Dara said, “There are chances you'll have to pay someone off to get informed on the Luxion you’re after. Unfortunately I don't know the name of their Luxion so good luck on that but it shouldn't be hard to find them. Unlike most Luxions they're unconventional, have a habit of making themselves known in the Japanese media. Instead of staying under the radar they are known for being in Kanagawa. However, the city is there for them and never give a single thing away about them. Kinda makes you wonder about where the 3% really are.” Ah yes, the 3% of the world that actually doesn't think we're evil. “If we save the world the number could go up.” I offer. “Yeah, maybe we'll raise the number to a strong 10%.” Baekhyun followed up. “I think your stopping the bomb has already made a small spark.” Chaerin pulled up a video on YouTube. It was just titled  _ “The Angel _ ” and we knew it was about Kris. It looked like it was filmed on a phone, and you could see Luhan off to the right trying to stop the explosion. I saw myself with water surrounding myself so I could stay nearby without being burned when it would blow. Kai was moving too quickly but he teleported off of screen and presumably into the forest. That’s probably how the Wasps know about him. Then, there is a boy a few feet away from Luhan, a tipped wheelchair near him and he is trying to claw his way to safety. I don't know how I missed him, how any of us did. “Oh god. Oh no.” I hear the person holding the phone say. I knew there would only be a few seconds before disaster. I couldn't look, watch a child die. But Kris swoopes down and covers the boy just as the place blows and Luhan screams. The phone is dropped but only for a minute, but when it was picked back up it showed almost no damage to anything other than Luhan with a few pieces of the warehouse around. Shakily the person continued to record and Kris picks up the kid and carries him into a store before going back for his wheelchair. Then, the video stops and cuts to a guy in a chair. 

“So. A couple of questions that have blown up in a few days, who is this angel and what is an exo? Well according to the mother of that boy himself, exo is the name of the alien group that saved a small area of Bucheon and countless lives. That is all she wishes to speak on the matter because the angel he himself asked her to say nothing. What I saw that day were 11 aliens doing what most people never thought they could do, something good. It was not them who almost ended human lives but Wasps. This has created a wave of thoughts on aliens, or at least exo. Most people of course believe that no matter what aliens should be hunted and gotten rid of. However I've seen more people recently think maybe at least some of them aren't horrible, aka what I've been trying to tell people since the beginning of this channel. So exo if you're out there, prove me right. I believe in you. I will talk more on exo when more comes back. Signing off.” It ends and it leaves me with… surprise I think is the best word. I knew there were supporters, but I've never seen supporters. It was sweet, we had a fan. “More people are thinking good things of you guys which is progress. Considering you guys are about to take down a corporation that is the foundation of why the world has come together, I'd say you need all the backing you can get.” Wow, thanks Chaerin for your kind helpful words. We love a friend who believes in us. “Nonetheless, they better get a move on if they want to find them and be back soon. Bom might go insane if she doesn't get her hands on the Jintai or get to start working. Hm, she's already back in her room. I better go before she ends up forgetting to eat while drawing or writing up plans.” Chaerin looks back at us before giving a hopeful smile, “Good luck exo. Bring them back soon, don't cause a scene.” 

“Can't promise it.” I tell her and she rolls her eyes. “Go give Kai a picture of a back alley or something in the prefecture.” I pulled up a picture on my phone, and we all got together. Suddenly we were in the back alley we picked. We pulled up our masks just in case. Then Jongin groans. “We forgot the money give me a sec.” He poofs and then returns, Japanese Yen wads in his hands. Wait… none of them have that type of money. “You took mine?” He gave a sheepish smile. “Hey… I can't be marked in a bad way. It's way easier than transferring money don't you think?” 

“Whatever.” We have no real place to start so what better than to walk around aimlessly and pretend we understand the signs. Well, other than Baekhyun and Jongin no one knew what anything said. It was really beautiful, even though there were giant buildings that were no different than Seoul or Bijeongsang it had a better feel to it. Maybe a little more free than Seoul and Bijeongsang, one has no Halliyun and the other has only Halliyun and both are terrible to live in when all you wanna do with your life is live normally when you're a half-born. Everyone wanted strawberry milk, and I realized Jongin just grabbed every bill of Yen I had. Which was a lot, my family is comfortable with money and I have never needed it more than now. I can't believe everyone suddenly wants stuff when I end up having money to pull out. Then, Jongdae gasped and went to a window. “Joonmyeon please I have to have something from here.” I go to the window ready to say absolutely not until I see the egg. A very lazy egg. It's Gudetama, of course he wants something. So now it took me a few seconds to embrace my spiritual egg then I said, “Absolutely not.” 

“Myeon please! I'll never ask for anything else again!”

“That's a lie and you know it.”

“I'll be nice!” It doesn't work because he is already nice. But there is an unspoken reason as to why I haven't just pulled him away, and that's because of Jongdae's hidden talent: being able to whine without fail or scream so loudly and high he reaches notes never discovered. Not only that, but he has no problem doing either of them to get what he wants. So pretty much he need attention or he will bust your eardrums. This is why every single day is a struggle, and then there is Baekhyun who needs attention or he will actually die.

I give in only so I can keep my sense of hearing and let him buy two reasonably priced things. A small plushie, and a set of stuff that I don't of since he shoved it into the bag in two seconds. There is a small drawn picture taped to the wall behind the cash register. The boy had dark brown hair and a subtle mullet with a red and white bandana. His tongue was stuck out and he had his middle finger up. A white jacket on with a black shirt under, he looked like something out of a manga or anime. The cashier looked at me and pointed at the picture. However, when she tells me something I don't understand since my Japanese is very limited. Baekhyun overhears and asks about the picture. The cashier smirks and talks to someone else before nodding. The other person takes up behind the register and the girl walks out. “She says her name is Kiriko, and she'll take us to a spot he frequents with his six other friends.” She speaks again and Baekhyun rolls her eyes. “And she says we should pay for compensation for her missing her shift.” I fumble out a wad of cash, and when her eyes bug out I wonder how much I gave her. Then Kiriko walks us to the bus stop. “My Korean, not good. He teach me. I go to him, come with me.” We catch the bus and I again pay. We ride for a few stops with Kiriko speaking to Baekhyun with Jongin popping in every now and then. 

The fourth stop Kiriko gets up and we follow. It's a small old looking ramen shop. However, walking inside it shows so much different. Every wall has writing or graffiti over it. There are a few kids hanging out and eating. “Ya! Kiriko!” A dark haired boy called to her. He was sitting in the back with six other boys, one of which I recognized from the picture. We follow and listen to them converse for a little before they give their attention to us. They look about as old as us and one of them young like Sehun. “Kiriko says you guys are here to see us?” The one who asked has dark brown hair pushed back and a dimples on his cheek, “I'm RM, the leader. Now what do you need?” 

“I'm Joo- Suho and this is Kris. We're the leaders of exo.” The very pale one with white hair quirks an eyebrow when I mention our name. “Exo huh? Pleased to make your acquaintance. We're Bangtan Sonyeondan or bts for short. I'm Suga.”

“Wait wait wait,” Kyungsoo says, “Your name stands for bulletproof boy scouts?”

“Ok but what does exo stand for?” Suga fired back. There was a blonde with puffy lips and eyes that read  _ I am not the leader but I sure as hell feel like I am  _ who patted his arm. “I'm sure he didn't mean it like that.” 

“You don't know that.” The blonde rolled his eyes and gave us a smile. “My name is Jin, please to meet all of you.” RM gave a small smile, who introduced everyone the others. The bandana boy was named V, the other dark haired boy is Jungkook, J-Hope has red hair and a bright smile, and there was Jimin who had bright pink hair. “So, what was it you came all the way to Japan for?” 

“We're looking for a Halliyun book called the Jintai Gasa, we have the other two and we need to put them together to stop the Wasps.”

“Red Force,” V says, “You mean the Red Force. The Wasps are just doing what they think is right but the Red Force knows what is really going on.” I didn't know that, but I continue. “We're friends with 2ne1 and they said one of you is smart enough to help Bom make whatever blueprints are in the combined Gasa.”

“That would be RM, but Suga and I would probably be the ones helping make the thing.” RM raises his hands up and I notice they're gloved. “Everything I touch backfires. But we don’t even know where the Jintai is and frankly, we don’t care.” I was stunned. “We’ve been fine on our own for the past two years we’ve been around. We fight Wasps on our own terms, not according to whatever is in those books. We get rid of any around our area, and stop any others from coming in. You guys can handle yourselves from the footage we saw, so why do you need us to make something that we don’t even have all the parts to yet? Jungkook is 12, we aren’t going to fight on front lines for what? There is nothing for us back in Korea, and trying to fight back that large scale sounds crazy. Halliyun vs Halliyun is just going to make an all out war with even less survivors than the first one back on Halliyun. We’ll stay here, find a different group of people to help you out.” 

“None of us will survive if we don’t act now,” I respond, “You are all half-borns right? We all live on Earth right? The Red Force want to end all life on Earth and give it to the dead planet.” 

“That’s impossible.” Jungkook says, but then looks at RM for confirmation. “It’s possible, but you’d need a machine with a power source big enough to do it and a portal through the Earth.” 

“Actually you’d need one through the two most parallel alternate Earths.” Yixing says. “Huh, I kinda regret not staying with 2ne1 longer, Bom was nice to share thoughts with.”

_ “Then come with us.”  _ Luhan says. Bts stares at him. “Did he just…”

_ “Yes I did J-Hope. I can’t talk, so this is how I have to go about it.”  _ We looked at them, and waited for their answer. “Alright then, we figure this out the same way we always do. Raise your hand if you vote to go. As usual I don’t count.” Everyone but Jungkook and RM raised their hand. Jungkook looked to RM. “I'm scared hyung.”

“We don’t have to fight, we’re just going to do things and then come right back and we can just keep doing what we do.” He was still unsure, but he nodded anyway. Then Baekhyun looked up, and to the sides. “They’re here.” He said quietly. I didn’t get it. “Wasps, I can hear their radio talking. Halliyun ears are way better than humans.” Yixing smiled, “That means you’re done having your body go through painful adaptations?”

“Nope,” Baekhyun said, “Still in pain. Just less pain.” 

“Ok, but where are they?”

“A few streets away. We can catch them by surprise.” Baekhyun replied to Suga. We all get up and get ready. “I can’t believe I’ll have to break Kiriko’s heart and leave without notice.” V said dramatically. Jimin rolled rolled his eyes, “She’s two years older than you, she’ll find someone.” We are quick to find them, it’s only seven to our 19. V pulls something out of his pocket, it looks like a small grey robot. “Meet Army, she’s the quickest way to get rid of them.” He sets her on the ground and turns her on. She has a large grey head like a ufo with a grey body. as Army looks up at V before her eyes turn blue and so do his. “My gift is anything that needs electricity to function I can control. Your microwave? That’s mine now. Let’s do this.” He moves his hands, and she follows. There are small shots and gasps before I hear bodies crumple. “Are you- are you killing them?” I asked incredulously. “How else do you get rid of them? Didn’t you blow up a lot of them a few days ago?” V said. The thing was just how easily he could do it and do it in an instant. Then a voice screams out “Don’t shoot!” It’s a girls voice, faintly familiar. She spoke in Japanese after that. “I can’t speak Japanese well so please someone who knows Korean help me out! I need your help, and you may need mine.” Then I remember I where I heard her voice from; the one girl Wasp I let go. “Wait.” I say to V, who looked like he had no problem shooting her with his tiny robot. I walk out despite hearing the rest of exo telling me no. She was wearing her Wasp uniform but not her helmet. “Do you have clothes on under the uniform?” I ask. She nods, her hands up. “Get out of it then, so we know you aren’t lying.” She does, and is wearing shorts and a white t shirt. Then she stops on it for good measure, or maybe out of anger. Whatever the reason, I heard the crunch of the small microphone in the suit.  “I hate wearing that.”

“Then why did you ever want to wear it?” She was quiet for a moment. “Because that was before I knew the truth. My name is Ha Yeonsoo, and I have stuff to give the aliens here since I got temporarily moved here, but you saved my life, so I’ll give it to you.” She pulls something out of her pocket, a piece of paper. I took it, and called out RM. He took it, looked at it, then looked back at her. “Where did you get this?”

“I stole it. One day I realized you aren’t really the bad ones, it’s us. I don’t know what this is, I don’t know what this says. I just- I just don’t understand.” 

“You know how there are good people and bad people? Well there are good Halliyun and bad Halliyun. Today there are bad Halliyun trying to do something that we need to stop.”

“How can I help?” I shook my head, “No, just go and take care of yourself. Don't throw yourself in this.” 

“I was in it the moment I signed up to be a Wasp. Now let me help you at least from the inside. I'll go back, but everything I see I promise to let you know of.” 

“I thought you don't want to go?” 

“But I don't want to die ever more!” She sighed. “I'll help anyway I can.” Yeonsoo was not listening to reason, she sounds like Chanyeol. “How are you even going to be able to tell us anything?” She looks up, “Anyone got a pen?” Jongdae walks over and gives her a pencil. “Gudetama, cute.” She writes her number on a paper before giving it to me. “I'm sorry I didn't know sooner.”

“Well you know now.” She nods and picks up her uniform. “Thank you…”

“Suho.”

“Thank you Suho, I won't let you down.” Yeonsoo bowed, and walked off. “Do you trust her?” Yixing asked the moment we were sure she was gone. “She has no reason to give me this information, she has a good life. Why would you risk it for someone you met once?” That was a question I really did have, why did she? She doesn't owe me a single thing. Kris looked at me, “Was she one of the ones you let go away the first time we met?” I nodded. “Well, let's go back to 2ne1 and then figure it out.” All 19 of us got behind an alley and poofed.

 

* * *

 

Teleporting almost 20 people must have been tiring because he hung onto Suga before apologizing. “You alright?” 

“Y-Yeah. Give me a minute.” Kyungsoo was going over to check on him, but then Jongin put his hand up. “No.” Chanyeol called out to let 2ne1 know we were back. “You lived!” Dara said smiling. “Nice to see you again Bangtan. Chaerin and Min Ji went out for food but I feel like it was mostly to avoid our impending doom.” Then Bom peeked out of her room and smiled before running over to RM. “Hey RM! I suspect they told you what's happening?”

“Yeah, but we're only helping for this part before leaving.” Bom nodded before he handed her the paper from Yeonsoo. Her eyes scanned it before they lit up. “This is the machine they're going to use, I can't believe it how did you get this?” They looked at me as if I should explain. “I have an acquaintance on the inside, she’s going to help us out from now on.” Bom continued to look at the prints. “She only brought one part, but I'm sure this will be enough for us to at least find out how to turn it off or a weak link. Now there is also a very dangerous part to this whole portal opening which is why I hope it blows up in their faces: if you open a portal between realities there are open spaces. Imagine a hole in between the two points. Walking through when the portal isn't stable is dangerous and may not hold many people before it catches someone in the cracks no matter how careful you are.”

“And what happens then?” We can tell that Jongin is too afraid to ask, but he does anyway. Bom is silent, “You end up swallowed into the oblivion, a void. If you're lucky, you can just end up in an alternate Earth. If not, you will die.” His eyes widened and looked at us, “I don't want to kill anyone.” 

“You won't open a portal J- Kai. They won't get you or Chanyeol and we will never let them do a thing to you.” Kris reassured him. “Wait, how are you going to open a portal?” Jimin asked, and we explain the prophecy as well as everything we have to do. “I feel so happy that we're not connected to a terrible prophecy.” 

“Thanks Suga.” Kyungsoo mumbled. Bom turned to bts’s leader, “RM, we need to figure out-”

“Whether or not this is manually charged or digitally as well as configurations and startup codes? All from one piece of paper because people think we have super brains?” 

“Read my mind RM. By the way, we do not!” They walk off to Bom's room. “You know for someone so smart I'm surprised she became a general.” Minseok raised his eyebrows at Dara, “She was a general?” 

“Well respected one too. She wasn't one for a long time unfortunately. Eidian stole that from her too, then the riots and now… she was so strong and stubborn. And now the shyest of us all now because of him. Now, we need to think about where the Jintai may be. It has to be somewhere in Japan.” Then, the lights begin to flicker. Yixing places his arm on Baekhyun to heal him, thinking he is still adapting but Baekhyun brushes him off. “I'm not hurt! I'm just lying! I'm so sorry to all of you.” None of us understood. “Baek what do you mean?” 

“I lied about not being seen the day the Wasps came!”

“Now is not the time to-”

“Listen! They found me and took me. They hooked me up to these things and I just remember it hurting so much and I blew out every light. But they had this one room with a window, and I saw it. I saw the Jintai in there. I'm sorry I lied but I can't go back there I don't even know where I was if I was still in Korea or was taken somewhere else. I can't go back there I really can't please don't make me I can't.” A light blew out, and would've shattered the bulb onto Jimin and Minseok but Luhan stopped it. Yixing held onto his arm, “Baekhyun did you see any signs there? Any you can remember?” Baekhyun, who was visibly repressing memories barely nodded. “I couldn’t read any of them though.” 

“That’s okay. Luhan and I have learned something we can do. We can extract memories of sleeping people. Don't ask us how we found this out. Can we do that to you?” 

“It's connected to a memory you won't want to see.” 

“It's okay, only I'll see it, Luhan is just making sure I don't lose it. No one else will I promise.” 

“B-But you'll see me. Real me, not human version.” Yixing smiled and shook his head, “Buoxian I will never say anything about you. Please, we need to do this.” Baekhyun didn't talk but nodded. He sat down, and let Yixing put him to sleep. We watched as Luhan put his hand on Baekhyun's forehead, and Yixing's over his. They concentrated, more lights flickered but didn't blow. They were only in there for two minutes before Luhan began to breathe heavily and so did Yixing. “A-Are they okay?” Jongin asked. “I don't know.” Is all I can reply. Yixing screams in absolute pain but doesn't let go. Jongdae went to try and stop them but Jin grabbed him, “No, we could hurt them even more.” Then, the lights stopped flickering and they opened their eyes. Yixing woke up Baekhyun, who stared at the two of them. “What did I do to you guys?” 

_ “Should be asking Yixing, he got the most of it. All I know is that bad memories hurt so much more. I'm mildly fatigued at best.”  _ Yixing did look much worse. His eyes hadn't gone back to brown, and they were red aroused the whites. “Oh my god Baekhyun. I'm so sorry. How long did they keep you there?”

“Until I was 10 so three years. Then whatever they were trying to do wasn't working with me, so they left me out on the street. Every day I wonder why they didn't kill me. How much did you see and feel?” 

“Everything,” Yixing said, “I had to go through that entire day and I felt every time they poked you and prodded and shocked you. And I saw you. And the sign, it was in Mandarin so all I know is that it was in China. I would go back, check for more but I don't have enough strength right now. I need food.” Kyungsoo was quick to get up and dig out a bag of chips, which Yixing tore open. “No way in hell you’re going back Xing. Maybe you didn’t notice, but five minutes in a bad memory alone left you like this. Any longer and you’d probably get hurt even more or worse.” We all agreed with Minseok and the vote was unanimous, Yixing could not go back in there at least for right now.“Hey, maybe we should call Sicheng and see if he is still in China.” Tao offered. Everyone who knew who Sicheng was nodded and then brought the ones who didn't around on who he was. “He sounds adorable.” Jin says. “I'm adopting him spiritually.” Dara agrees, “Actually I'm adopting him period.” 

“You've never even met him!” Chanyeol exclaims. “Not knowing something has never stopped me before. Anyway great idea I vote we do it and I have the only valid opinion at the moment so call him.” Tao does, and Sicheng picks up. They talk in Chinese before Tao puts him on speaker. “Hi everyone! You need place to stay in China?” 

“Not exactly,” Kris says, “Have you heard of the Jintai Gasa?” 

“No but let me ask my Luxion.” He goes off and soon there is a different voice. “I'm the leader Kun, you were asking about the Jintai?” 

“Yeah, the Wasps/ Red Force has it. Do you know where in China that may be?” 

“Possibly. We've been looking for it for the longest and we think we know where they're hiding it but we aren't really the type for fighting head-on. If you could come soon that would be great, we also have something else to show you guys. Winwin says good things about you exo so I trust you to see it. Asap okay?” I quickly assess my Luxion, both Luhan and Yixing look worse than they let on. Luhan seems a lot more than “mildly fatigued” as if he would pass out on the couch, and Yixing is ripping through a fourth bag of chips and he hasn't made eye contact with Baekhyun. It looks more like he went through the pain rather than just seeing the memory, which I’m beginning to think he did feel more than he said. “Tomorrow,” I tell Kun, “We’ll be there. What city in China?” 

“Hunan district, we’ll send Winwin to get you alright? It’s Sicheng’s Halliyun name, we’re trying to get him to memorize it.” Hunan, that’s where Yixing is from. Sicheng didn’t have to go far then.

“Same with everyone in our Luxion. Do you have room for 12 others?” 

“We can always make some. See you tomorrow…”

“Suho.” 

“Well then see you tomorrow Suho.” He hung up. We already ended up in Japan because of a wild goose chase, now we have a possibility of all things. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner that I knew where it was. I don't want them to capture me again, or hurt any of you. None of you need to feel that pain. I realize now that they were testing me to be their power source and I didn't make the cut. If I had, I fear we all may have been dead a long time ago.”

“So what are they doing, picking up random Halliyun and testing them?” Jimin asked, and Baekhyun nodded. “And then do what with them?” 

“Kill some and let some go would be my best guess.”

“Why?”

“Their main objective isn't to kill Halliyun,” I say, remembering my one on one encounter with a member of the Red Force, “They only kill the ones that get in their way. Killing Baekhyun when he was a child would be stupid, that's the future generation for when they take over. Killed protesting Halliyun probably.” We were quiet, and it dawned on us that we've been so close to death so many times. Baekhyun and Luhan would've died if it wasn't for Yixing, all of us face Wasps at least once a week. Death, we're so close to it every day but we never… Families had to lose so much. I look around the room, if I lost anyone in here I don't know what I'd do. Dara is the first to straighten up. “We want to respect them? We fight for them and win, they did not pass in vain. For now, we can give them a proper funeral. Not perfectly Halliyun, but good enough.” None of us knew how she was going to do it other than Baekhyun who offered to help. 

It isn't long before Dara and Baekhyun get everything together, along with Bom when she finally came out of her room. We go outside to the back, where Dara scatters salt on a specific area and says something. Then, Baekhyun scattered vinegar and she said something else. Finally, Dara scattered salt one more time and repeated the same Hain from the first time. A purple flame rose, didn't burn as bright as a fire caused by a match or lighter, but felt warmer. “It isn't as big as a Halliyun fire, but it is good enough for now. Anyone who lost someone in the tests given by the Red Force go to the flame and say goodbye, they will rest peacefully now.” Baekhyun goes up first and gets on one knee before saying a word in Hain that was familiar to us,  **goodbye** . Bangtan went next, kneeling and giving a mass goodbye to their parents, friends and even a sibling from Suga. I let the rest of my Luxion go together, say goodbye. I looked at Kris, who didn't go up. “Have anyone to say goodbye to?” He shook his head, “I never knew any Halliyun outside of my mother and you all. You can go now.” I go to the fire and kneel. “Dad, I'm trying my best. I really am. I just feel so scared all the time, scared I’ll fail. And Kwanghee, I’m sorry I caused your end. I never forgot you, I never will. Both of you, I miss you and I’ll be a good leader I promise.” I feel a hand on my shoulder and look up. It’s Kris, and he gives me a soft apologetic smile. “Need a hug?”

“You? Kris Wu offering hugs? The world really is ending.” He rolls his eyes. “Then forget I asked Suho.” I laughed and accepted the short hug. “Do you think I've been a good leader? Be honest, don't lie.” 

“Myeon, you're not a good leader you're a great one. Who else can manage to get 11 other kids to do the impossible? Only you from my knowledge.”

“No, you helped me too.”

“Still, doing great. Don't think you aren't doing good, ot12 have made it this far.” I wonder if he's found out I have no clue what I'm doing 57% of the time. Then again I never knew what I was doing in school either and until now I have been passing with good grades so, not too different.  _ “Hey Joonmyeon hyung?”  _ It was Jongdae, just me and him. He was standing off to the side on his own and was motioning me over. I walked over. “What's up?”

“I uh, I wanted to give you this. There was no real good time for me to give you this since we're holding this. I wanted you to have it.” He hands me a messily wrapped rectangle, I don't know when he had time to do this since we've all been together other than when Dara and Baekhyun were preparing- it just clicked in my head. I open it and it's a Gudetama art set. I didn't even know they made those. “You told us once you liked drawing and stuff and then I saw you drawing for Baek so I thought it would be nice to buy you this. I bought it when you weren't looking with the money I had brought, I didn't know how much it would cost in Korean money so I kinda gave the cashier all my Won and she didn't object. I just wanted you to have something too. Love thy neighbor and I just wanted to give you a nice thing. You do so much for us and you deserve way cooler stuff. It's better than just normal pencils I hope.” I smiled so hard I felt it. “Thank you Chen, really. I-I never expected a gift.” It's worse than I thought, I'm getting emotional over a present. Not to the level of crying or anything, but it does tug at my heartstrings more than usual. “One day I'll draw all 12 of us. In the safehouse or at Yixing's village.”

“Can you add in 2ne1?”

“I'll add as many people as you want around us okay? Everyone who helps us I'll draw if I can remember.” Jongdae smiles and turns back to the fire and looks at the others around us, “Kris will beat Eidian, we'll beat the Red Force, we'll go home and you'll draw the picture.”  _ Yeah.  _ I thought.  _ I'll draw the picture. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! I'm down here to let you know that I am putting my works on a break. Now this isn't something indefinitely because I know when I will be back, I'm taking March off and will be back april 5th! I know this book hasn't been going on for the longest but I've been running this account without a break for almost 2 years now and I have other things in life to focus on like my GPA and college people actually caring about what I do now. Also I've been running the account on my own since the hiatus on Crazy In Love, I'm just needing some healing time so I can come back better than ever. Love you all and will be back before you know it. In the meantime I hope you enjoyed this chapter and focus on all the comebacks happening in the month I'm gone!


	20. The Buildup to Something Cool (AKA China Bois r back)

I wake up to loud screaming. My first thought is it's Jongdae, but it's too low for Jongdae's voice. The scream ends shortly after it starts but I'm already awake. It belonged to Kris. I walk over to his bed and shake him awake. When he does wake up it takes him a moment to get his head on straight, when he looks at me his eyes narrow. “What's my favourite colour?”

“I-I don't know you never told me.” He sighs. “The fake Joonmyeon in my dream said blue, I needed to be sure you were real. Sometimes I can't tell the difference between actual events and people, and things Eidian is doing. Did you sleep?” 

“The average amount.”

“The average amount for a person or the average amount for a Joonmyeon?” I feel like he should know this by now. “Eight hours just isn't in my blood. I think I slept for maybe a solid four.” From the look on his face I can tell that probably wasn't a good amount of sleep, but just last week I could only sleep for two so progress. I don't know why but the deeper we get into trouble, the longer I tend to sleep. “Well what about you? I saw you wake up once during the night but how long did you stay awake?”

“Until my body made me go back to sleep. I fought it off as long as I could.” 

“What did you see?” I was sure he expected my question, but I did not expect his answer. “Eidian showed me my biggest rational fear. He thought I have no fear or show no fear, so he pulled up my own,” I waited for him to stop not continue because he looked so out of it, “I saw all 11 of you die. You all died and I couldn't stop it. The Red Force won and then you all… all were dead. Then he laughed at me and I woke up. The second time he asked me if I wanted to see it again of course I said no, so instead I had to go through it. I endured it until you woke me up.” 

“I'm s-”

“No,” He shook his head quickly, “Do not apologize for anything you have no control over. You guys keep me going. Anyway, we told Kun we're be in Hunan asap didn't we? I think it's time to wake everyone up and begone.” We learned that if we want to wake everyone up we can just yell over the mental link loud enough, we haven't used it because Jongdae may find out and then  _ he  _ will yell over the mental link.  _ “Wake the hell up!”  _ Kris didn't care about the consequences.  _ “What the f-” _

_ “Language Huang Zitao!”  _ I yelled over there,  _ “Just get up and get ready. We're going to Hunan.”  _

_“Now?”_ _“Yes Tao, now.”_ We get dressed as well, and meet with everyone else. Bts had apparently left late last night, having done all they could. I assume they did well considering Bom hasn't tied them down to stay. Luhan looks up at us with tired eyes. “Still recovering?”

_ “Yeah, but I feel better.”  _ His tired smile told me better is a relative term. Yixing was eating, and apparently had been eating. He was eating cereal, but the gallon of milk Chaerin bought yesterday was almost gone. “Did you eat all of that?” Kris asked. “Yes.”

“Didn’t you eat three sandwiches, a full bowl of bibimbap, and three more bags of chips after dinner?”

“Hey,  _ you  _ go in someone’s bad memories and see how it feels.”

“Oh let the boy eat,” Chaerin said, “He’s done enough hasn't he? You all have a journey that is going to be hard and trying,” That was enough to remind all of us how real this is. To us this isn’t a story, this isn’t a fun adventure this is life or death, “Know we’re proud of you exo, and we believe in you all. Wear your pendants proudly and fight not for Halliyun but for each other.” 

“Should we… should we say goodbye? Just in case something goes wrong?” Sehun asks quietly. And Sehun was only 14 and this is his first thought about his life, the fact he could die. This shouldn’t have to be his first thought. “No Sehun. We aren’t saying goodbye, no one is going to die today.” He nods.  _ “Why only today?”  _ Kris asks me, and only I hear.  _ “Because I’m afraid to promise him tomorrow.”  _

_ “Hey, I’m supposed to be the one with that mindset and you’re supposed to tell me to shut up and be optimistic.” _

_ “I’m just worried about never being able to let them go back to normal lives after this, or never having a life after this period.” _

_ “We’re going to make it.”  _ His face is even more serious now. The way he looked made it certain there would be no argument. We would make it, period. “Anyone else need breakfast before we teleport or we can all survive 5 seconds?” No one said anything, and we teleport to Hunan. It goes a little wrong. Flashes of purple and black go over my eyes. Then all of us are in a space and I can see stars and Earth, but we can't breathe. And it's cold, Minseok only feels affected by the lack of breathing. Yixing seems affected by nothing, and grabs me. I'm less cold and can breathe, but before I can say anything we've ended up in a field. I hear everyone gasping for air, and we collectively wonder what just happened? “That's never- I don't know what that was.” 

“Yeah. It a crack.” A very Sicheng sounding voice says. The air in front of us ripples, and Sicheng steps out with six other boys. His smile is bright as usual, “Chanyeol! Your hair is short!”

“Don't remind me!” He wailed dramatically.  There is a boy with white hair, who steps in front of them. “I’m Kun, nice to meet you exo. I think you would prefer to not teleport around here, the cracks are pretty large you would get stuck.”

“Can your Luxion speak Korean?” I ask. “Well we all understand it, but then almost all of us are from China. So speaking wise the best ones are me, Winwin, Ten, and Yangyang.” He pointed to each boy respectively. Ten was about Kyungsoo’s height with a small face and black hair, and Yangyang had curly brown hair and looked really young. “Hi Yangyang, how old are you?”

“I’m 10! But I’m turning 11 really soon!” He replies happily. “Yeah, our Luxion is on the young side. Hendery and Xiao Jun are 11 and Jun will be 12 in a few days, Lucas is 13, Winwin is 14, and Ten and I are 15.” They’re all kids. I realized Ten had yellow eyes, a trait from all full Halliyun that not even shapeshifting can cover.  _ “Hey Baekhyun, look at Ten.”  _ When he did, his eyes lit up. Literally, they began to glow. Ten must have also noticed, because he smiled and they began to talk in Hain. Then Baekhyun stopped and bowed, which Ten immediately shook his hands and looked like he told him to get up. “Please no one else bow, it makes me uncomfortable.” Then Baekhyun says something else and Ten shrugs. “If they don’t know, its fine… I’m speaking Korean aren’t I.”

“Don’t know what?” Jongin asked. “I uh-”

“He’s a prince! No, not just a prince he’s  _ the  _ prince!” Baekhyun exclaims. “Prince of what?”

“Well technically his prince status means nothing on Earth but on Halliyun he’d be a prince! I always wanted to be a prince, but then you know there is no Halliyun anymore.” Ten tapped both of Baekhyun’s shoulders, “You can have my title. You’re prince now.” 

“First off that's not how it works Ten you can't give him your power that comes with being a prince, secondly you rub the title in every time we make you do something you don't wanna do.” Kun said to the boy. “Ten, is that your Halliyun name?” Kris asks, and Ten shakes his head. “No it's my nickname. I don't use my Halliyun name and my human name is too long.”

“You're from Thailand aren't you?” 

“How did you know?”

“Lucky guess.” Hendery pulled on Kun’s sleeve and said something in Chinese. “He’s right, we need to get back. We can explain more when we get home.”

“Ooh! Ooh!” Yangyang raised his hand, “I wanna do it!” 

“No,” Kun says gently, “You can’t move that many people yet. When you’re bigger you can try okay?” The youngest nodded but didn’t look happy about it. Kun raises his hand, and the ripple comes back and its odd. One minute we’re in a field and then next we’re in a house. Not too far from where we were in the first place, the field is stretched out below us which means we’re in the mountains. Kyungsoo looked out the window, “How did you get a house up here?” 

“Ten and Kun have strongest powers of all of us, they pushed through a crack. Not literally, but they made it through and we made stairs.” Sicheng said. “I don’t get it, so you can all teleport? And I thought no Halliyun ever had the same powers?” He looked confused, until Yixing translated. “Oh no we do not- how do I say? Tel-Telaport? Teleport. It is like um- no no no let me try. How else I get better?” Sicheng waved Kun off who looked like he wanted to explain in place of the younger, “We all have same power but there no more repeaters for us. WayV will be only Luxion with this power. It is like teleporting, but no. Kai can go everywhere yes? We can only go where cracks are.”

“What are cracks?” Sicheng gave a smile to Kun that said that he should explain that part. “Do you know what alternate realities are?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know about the cracks in portals that appear when you go through?” We nod. “Alright. Well we can make small portals in the cracks that can only go to places with cracks like Winwin said. You all got stuck in a crack, it’s a miracle you didn’t freeze to death considering it's practically space. Then again half-borns can survive a little longer in the void. Other than us, no one else can live in it.” Jongin’s eyes almost bugged out of his skull, “You can live in the void?” Xiao Jun nodded then said something in Chinese. “We can but only in places close to cracks,” Ten translated, “Too far out we have to learn how to give more energy to the void. Yangyang isn’t allowed to go far yet even in the places that aren't as hard to give energy to.”

“I'm 10 not five ge! I'm strong enough for some places.” 

“Keyword  _ some.  _ You stay with Xiao Jun because Xiao Jun doesn't go far on his own accord.” He blushed when the attention turned on him. “Stars, want to see?” He looked towards us for confirmations on his wording. “I thought we couldn't go into the void.” I said back, and that's when I realized Hendery was tapping on Xiao Jun's arm every time someone spoke. “You can go in the places that are easy, a little less than Yangyang.” Kun told us. “Shouldn't we be going to find the Jintai?” Minseok questions. “It's best to go at night. Also, wouldn't you like to enjoy yourself before something weird or crazy or bad happens?” Chanyeol shrugged and looked at his brother, “Ah what the hell, let's see the freaking stars.” Hendery tapped again on Xiao Jun. He smiled and grabbed Chanyeol’s hand to follow him. We walk past a few bedrooms, where they probably stay. “Wait, where is everyone else? I thought there were 18 members in nct.”

“There  _ were  _ 18,” Sicheng said to Chanyeol, “Now there are 21.”

“How does that even work?” 

“Nct will never end, always getting more and more. Separate into tiny groups so we can be everywhere. Group of six, 10, and seven.” Last time we talked to Sicheng, he looked uncomfortable when he found out there were 18, but now he looked content with infinite members. The very last room in the house was full of books, books on space and planets and rockets from a closer look. Kun looked to Kris and said something and he nodded. “Look up.” Hendery said. We did, and there was a small hole in the ceiling. Kris gave a ladder to Kun, who set it up. “Let’s go.” He goes up first and his Luxion follows. Chanyeol goes first, then Kris, and I come up last. My first thought was ‘wow, I can breathe’ then my next thought was ‘holy shit this is pretty’. We were standing on a stone walkway, spreading off in multiple directions. The stars were a little bigger than what you can see from Earth, it reminded me of when my mum and I used to drive out and look at stars. She would point to one and tell me my father was from there. Now I know she was a little off, Halliyun can't be seen from earth. “So are these all of the stars in the universe?” Jongdae asked with awe in his voice. “Ha, no. They're not really stars at all, each one is a Halliyun. You see all of the ones grouped together? Those are Luxions, and they're all spread out between all the universes. This is what you'd see if you fell into the void.”

“Where are we?” Sehun asked. Kun smiled and looked at Yangyang, “Wanna do the honors?” The little boy nodded quickly and lifted up both his hands. He concentrated very hard, “Exo.” Tons of stars moved and shifted until 12 cream coloured ones were above Yangyang. “That's you guys.” 

_ “We're pretty.”  _ Luhan says, and I agree. We are quite beautiful. Hey, it's amazing to see yourself like millions of stars. I see Hendery tap and I move over. “Hey, if you don't mind me asking why do you tap?” Hendery looked at me confused, and I try my best.  **“You, hands, touch why?”** Realizations hit him. “Xiao Jun… no hear. Only in void. We know uh tapping words?” He held out his arm and did three fast taps, three slow taps, then another three fast taps. S.O.S, they know more code. I nod once I understand. “I can help with that.  _ Hey Lu, can they have a mental link? Is it possible you can give them one without you being nearby?” _

_ “Of course… done.”  _ I tell Kun and he smiles when Xiao Jun points to his ears. Jun quickly bowed to Luhan, “I can talk all the time?”

_ “Only in your head. I’m sorry, I can’t bring back your hearing.” _

_ “No, you have already helped me enough. I can talk so thank you.”  _ Then our attention was moved to Baekhyun and Ten who were running to the ladder and going back down, Ten coughing. Kun lets out a curse in Chinese I've heard from Kris and goes after them. Baekhyun's eyes were a dull yellow. “Ten did you not tell him?” Kun asks when we all get down. “Well you're the leader of WayV so I'd think you would tell them!” 

“I-Is Baekhyun going to be okay?” Whatever arguments the two of them were going to have died with Jongin’s question. “Yes he will be,” Kun reassured him, “His energy didn't transfer properly,” It was obvious that none of us understood that, “Okay. I'll try to make it simple. So when you get a different Earth it's just that, a different Earth. However, Halliyun is the same just different parts. Halliyun blue moons will happen at the same time on all six Earths, but affect different Halliyun because different Earths. Now what does this have to do with Baekhyun and why is everyone else okay? Well Baekhyun is Halliyun and he isn't from Earth so his energy doesn't respond well to the void where all energy is meshed together. I'm sorry I can't explain better, we barely know the void ourselves, Ten's first power is literally to be in the void so he can last longer but Baekhyun can't be there for more than a few minutes.”

“If he fell into the void from a portal,” Jongin said quietly, “How long would he… would he be okay?” Kun sighed and looked to Baekhyun then to Ten. “Jongin, maybe a minute because without us you'd be frozen in the empty void. It's better if you just don't open a portal at all, at least until the blue moon and the week leading up to it is over. As of now, it could have three people fall in at once.” I notice on Kun's right ring finger he has a dragon tattoo. I sigh, I wonder how he is doing. I then look at Kris, who has been quiet and looking at his own tattoo.  _ “We're going to be okay Kris.” _

_ “You can't keep telling me that, we don't even know if we're going to make it out of today. I used to think going to sleep would give me time to think things over and figure out what the hell is going on but now every night I almost die just trying to keep Eidian away from you.”  _ I looked at him, he hadn't told me that. I grabbed his arm before remembering Kris didn't like that.  _ “Come on, we're going to talk.” _

_ “We can talk here.” _

_ “Not when the rest are looking.”  _ He didn't object, and I led him to a different room. I let go of his hand. “He's been trying to kill me?”

“No- I mean I don't know. He says he can hurt each one of you in special ways or I can take the pain. I do it every night. I can't risk one of you being hurt because I decided I didn't want to be hurt anymore.” 

“Let him hurt me, I'll be fine.”

“No you won't.”

“You don't know tha-”

“I do Joonmyeon! It almost breaks me every time.” 

“Wait,” I raise my eyebrow, “You think that because you almost die each time that I won't be able to hold it? You take the pain of 11 other people, I can handle just one. Why do you think I can't do it?” He wouldn't reply, Kris never avoids saying what's on his mind unless it doesn't make us all work well as a team. He never has anything to fear, he doesn't need to hold back with whatever he wants to say. Except he always does with me. When he still doesn't tell me anything I talk, “You don't think I'm strong enough? I can hold off Halliyun on my own, I'm not weak. Why do you always think I can't do anything? I'm-”

“I know! I know you can do it because you're stronger than I am and will ever be I swear!” He grabs my shoulders suddenly, “Listen. If all of that almost breaks me he will make it all worse for you just to see how much he can put you through. Like I said, never will anyone do that to any of you. I want this rather than have you take it.” He let go of me, finally having said what he needed to. “Fine Kris, fine. I trust you,” I hold up his hand and see the dragon tattoo. It's the only one he has that I hate, “But if you ever need me to take some of the burden, I'll do it.” 

“You can't just take it, the window to change my mind already closed. I don't know what will happen if I say it's too much.” I squeezed his hand lightly. “You promised me you wouldn't die.” His eyes shot up, “I did and I won't. I don't know how the hell but I will not die,” He didn't let go of my hand, even when I was done looking at that terrible but intricate tattoo, “Do you… Do you wanna talk about it?”

“About wha- oh. Okay you know I want to and would love to, but it's just not right yet. We both know what we're thinking of and it's fine. This can just go as unspoken for now. We don't need it to be said for anything to matter right?” 

“Yeah. We should probably get back, one of them may try to kill the other.” As if on cue Sehun yells, “War!” We get out the room and see almost everyone about to jump on Ten. Luhan stops them all thankfully. “What are you doing?” Kris exclaimed. “They came to an agreement that to better get to know one another if they disagree on a popular opinion they get to punch one another-”

“Ten doesn't like Poptarts!” Chanyeol yelled, cutting Kyungsoo off. “Who doesn't like Poptarts?”

“Me! I don't!” I let out a  _ very  _ long sigh. Why did they believe this is a good idea? “We tried to punch Kyungsoo the most since he has the most terrible opinions, but the thing is punching Kyungsoo hurts you more than him.” Kyungsoo shrugged. “You decided to try to punch me idiot.” 

“You're bulletproof! You almost broke my hand!” Chanyeol said. I immediately looked at his hand. “He's fine, Yixing healed him.” Tao said. “Alright no more punching anyone.” I declared. Yangyang, Sehun, and Chanyeol sighed in defeat. “How did you get them to listen to you. I try to do anything with my Luxion and everyone but Sicheng just says I can't make them do anything.” Kun said before smiling at the said boy. Sicheng is adorable. Both of these entire Luxions love Sicheng. “It's because my power is I can drown all of them and also Kris can fly and drop them from mysterious heights. The secret is a good balance of kindness and extreme fear.” 

_ “Kun ge is too nice, he isn't scary.”  _ Xiao Jun said. Kun said something in Chinese before opening a crack and pushing Xiao Jun into it. From upstate we hear Xiao Jun shout that made everyone who understood him laugh. “Anyway, we've got time. Anyone want to join in a lovely stakeout at the place we think it is?” Ten asked. I looked to Baekhyun. “Do you remember anything else about the place? Entrances or-”

“No, no no no. I can't and I don't want to.” 

“Joonmyeon please don't make him. I know that it would have been helpful but it would hold us back. Luhan and I would be low on power and Baekhyun emotionally will be broken. We know how well our powers work when all of us are scared or something like that.” He was right, and I didn't want to even make them go through that stuff again. _ “Who is all coming?” _ Everything but Baekhyun and Hendery raised their hands. “Yangyang you're not going, you're 10.” He pouted, “I want to go! You never let me do anything.”

_ “You're not going. You're too young. Jun please he listens to you more.” _

_ “Xiao Jun is only one year older than me!” _

_ “But he is quiet and understands his powers.” _

_ “The only reason he is quiet is because he talks weird! At least I can hear!”  _ The link is quiet, everyone was quiet. Xiao Jun walks away and into a different room. Then Yangyang looks at his Luxion, then the door his member went to. Then he went to a different room. “Yang!” Kun called after, then sighed. “He isn't going to listen to me, or any of us.” 

“Can I try?” I ask quietly. Kun simply nods. I knock on his door. “Yangyang? It's Suho, can I come in?” He's silent, but he opens his door. Yangyang is teary eyed and lets me in. “Please don't yell at me. I really didn't mean it Xiao Jun is my big brother and I was just so mad!” 

“Woah, calm down. I'm not mad at you, that wasn't a nice thing to say though. Do you know why Kun won't let you go?” 

“Because if you’re younger than 13 you can’t go fight.” Yangyang sniffed and sat on the bed. I sat with him.”You know why they have that rule?”

“No. Taeyong made it up and everyone in nct has to follow it because he’s the leader of every person in nct!” I didn’t know who Taeyong was, but his idea made sense. “It's because if anything happened to you do you know how upset he'd be? Yes the older ones can go because they're older but he's scared for them too. We have to protect the younger ones so they get stronger and then can go out.” 

“Do you get scared for your Luxion?” I nod. “Even though they're all big kids and all have different powers every time we fight I'm scared. I care about them a lot, but don't tell them that or they'll never take me seriously again. You're the youngest, so of course they'll be nervous even more near you.”

“Yeah but,” He swings his legs, “I'm not even the youngest in nct! There are still two younger than me and the smallest is nine!” Nine. Holy shit  _ nine _ . “He doesn't fight I'm sure?”

“Well no. His mini Luxion is super cool though, they can go in people's dreams and are nocturnal. That means they are awake at night.” 

“That's a big word. How many people are in his mini Luxion?” Yangyang counted on his fingers, whispering names under his breath. “Six. There were seven but the oldest turned 13 a few days ago and then his dream powers went away. His name is Mark. I don't know what happened or if he has other powers, but when they turn 13 it'll happen to all of them. It's kinda sad, but now Mark can visit his family more instead of having to be with us all the time because now he is only in one mini Luxion instead of two.” I never thought about it, not feeling the pull. I can't imagine not being connected to these boys anymore. “Well do you want to stay in here for a little longer or apologize to Xiao Jun?” Yangyang nodded, “If I don't say sorry now, he could stay mad forever.”

“I don't think he'll be mad forever,” I tell him, “But apologizing is still good.” He hopped off the bed and was about to go when he turned to me, “Wanna know a secret?”

“Sure.”

“I don't always listen to Kun because he kinda looks like my dad.” I don't understand how that correlates to not listening, but I offer to him one in exchange. “My real name is Joonmyeon, but only Sicheng knows in WayV. Keep it a secret okay?” Yangyang smiles and goes to Xiao Jun's door. They begin to have a conversation, tapping. “Does everyone know morse?” I ask when I'm back with everyone else. Kun shakes his head, “I mean we all know the basics like S.O.S and stuff, but Ten, Lucas, Sicheng, and I don't know anything else. The other three have been friends for a while. For some reason they decided that it was better than sign language. We were all in nct before WayV happened other than them. The moment WayV snapped into existence the three of them were stuck together and we picked up more from them.” 

“So they were telling us earlier that they have infinite members so that there can be a unit for a ton of reasons fate needs them!”

“Other than saving the world apparently.” Kyungsoo follows up Chanyeol with the comment. “So what's WayV for?” I ask. Ten raises his hand. “I wanna answer this time Kun! Our job is to close the cracks that aren't supposed to be open. The one you got caught in when you guys were teleporting. So we need to close it, more are going to pop up during the blue moon week.” Jongin quirked his eyebrow, “Well other than me, why does it matter? No one else can access them that can't live in them.” Hendery looked warily at his members. “Monsters,” He said quietly, “Many monsters in Void.” 

“When you go into the void, the more you walk and the farther you do the stars will begin to disappear. Then there's no more beauty, just black and dark,” Ten carried on, “Monsters crawl out of it and some of them try to get through cracks. If we hold them back and keep the others closed, none of the monsters will ever get here. Only we can kill them, which is why we're needed.”

“I saw one. Big, dark, dead-” Kun cut him off quickly in Chinese with a worried face.  _ “Kun doesn't want me to tell you because it is a little scary. Not all of you need to hear but still, they told us about the portal and you need to know. It's importance. If they open it a monster will come out, the depth of the void to get to Halliyun will be only dark. No stars there.”  _

“You said they were dead Hendery,” Kris said, “Why is that?”

_ “Bad Halliyun in the world will die eventually right? Going against your Luxion or being evil will lead you to become a monster. Or if they get you, you will become a monster too.”  _ He looked sad when he said it.  _ “Well no more will get out right?” _ Kun said. Hendery nodded, then fiddled his hands. “Okay then, patch that up and let's go figure out where you think this shit is.” I let Jongdae have a pass on the bad word, this place we were about to find was just a big pile of shit. Baekhyun was tortured there, that enough was reason to call it shit. “Do you want me to stay with you?” Yixing asked the Halliyun. “No I'll be fine. I'll babysit the boys.” Yixing looked at him, but nodded in confirmation. “Let's go then.” Ten said. Kun made a ripple, and with that when we went on a stakeout.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bam! Hi guys I posted this hella early instead of around 3 p.m or later because I am sooooo excited to be back! Also, we're well on our way to the end of the book and soon we will be getting to the second book! I can't wait for you all to see the chapters. Love you all and hope you enjoy ^-^


	21. Parent issues volume two or in the words of Ten: 씨발

The stakeout was fine, everything after was just a downhill spiral. The stakeout wasn’t that much of a stakeout, going inside wasn’t an option and without Baekhyun it wouldn’t matter since we don’t know where anything is in the building. We were on the top of a nearby building after falling through a crack that wasn’t supposed to be there. It was a one-story building, but it could've held things underground. Ten closed it back up, and happily announced that no monsters were released. We landed and luckily, we did constantly see Wasps go in and out, so we know the two main entrances and exits so we know how to get out. There’s less security than I expected, and multiple vehicles moving. “So in conclusion,” Kun said, “There aren’t going to be as many people tonight.” 

“Then where are they going?” Jongin asked. Kyungsoo shrugged, “Probably to get more people out for patrol. They did recently lose a piece of blueprint paper and it had to have gone somewhere.” Jongin looked at his ex. “Yeah, but why China when it happened in Japan?” Kyungsoo didn’t say anything back.  _ “My lip reading is good but not great, talk in here please.”  _ Xiao Jun asked.  _ “Um guys?”  _ Lucas said,  _ “This may not be important but there are five suspiciously dressed women going into the building.” _

_ “Define suspicious.” _

_ “Sunglasses, trench coats, and face masks Ten. How much more can you get on that level of suspicious?”  _ He pointed down and we saw who he was looking at. All of the girls even had their hair covered with hats, save for one girl with pink hair. They went inside.  _ “That’s probably going to be a problem later.”  _ I agreed with Jongdae. Everything comes to bite us in the butt later when we do anything. Case and point: WayV left the crack open back at their home. It was bigger, and visible. Then I hear a curse word I know from Ten thanks to how often Kris says it in Chinese,  **“Fuck.”** And immediately after that Baekhyun came crashing through the window. Luhan stopped him and set him down. “Monster,” He panted, “Big angry monster,” He had a cut near his eye, “Need to go inside now I left Hendery and Yangyang.” 

_ “Xiao Jun, bring it outside.”  _ Kun said. He nodded and ran outside. Then Ten turned to us. “When we say so, cover your ears.” There was a crash, and Xiao Jun yelled. “Cover!” We do so, and then a shrill noise comes through. It makes my head shaky because of how badly it hurt. It made me want to take steps back, and I did, trying to get farther from the house and that terrible noise. It ends and I can breathe again. “Baekhyun!” Yixing shouted, he had fallen to the ground and was curled in a ball. “It hurts Halliyun to hear the noise even more than it hurts us. Only Xiao Jun can do it, and we use it to get the monsters to become weaker since they once were Halliyun. Ten can withstand it because of his powers but Baekhyun… However bad it hurt you, he just got it in a tenfold.” Kun looked on as Yixing healed him and his cut. We didn’t have time to think about that some more because the monster was outside. It was black with no facial features, but an area that looked like it was supposed to be the face. It had four legs, and black smoke coming from its body. The grass around it was dying. Yangyang and Hendery ran behind it, making it turn around but not have time to hurt them. They hit it on the sides which gave it an imprint of bright light. It roared despite the lack of a mouth. The two youngest ran behind Kun.  _ “We've been holding it off for an hour, we broke the no fighting rule.” _

_ “Hendery I'm just happy you're alive. We'll kill it.”  _ Kun said. His hand glowed and the area around the monster turned into fragments, like a broken mirror. It butt it's head(?) against the area, and Kun dug his heels into the ground.  _ “Ten, now!” _

_ “I-I can't.”  _ We all looked at him.  _ “What do you mean you- argh!”  _ Kun toppled backwards, the monster butted against the fragments a few more times and was free. I conjured up nearby water and Minseok froze it and sent it straight into the monster's chest. It stopped for maybe a moment and threw it back at us. Chanyeol melted it before it hit anyone and tried his hand at burning the monster. He had better luck, it buckled. The monster didn’t like that and grew a tail with a spike ball at the end. It swung around and I barely jumped high enough to not get hurt. It was angry, too angry to get close to when it could still move. Yixing seemed to get that idea too. He placed his hand on the ground and the grass around the monster revived and wrapped around its legs to hold it down. “Lay no let go! If you touch it in any way other than being one of us it will turn you!” Kun shouted, but it was too late. The vines became black and were making a beeline for Yixing. I ran to Yixing and tried to pull him off, but no matter how we struggled he couldn't be let go. They were almost at his side of the vines when I yelled out. “D.O! Pull him off!” Kyungsoo lifted him and tried, the vines began to stretch thin, but letting him go didn't seem like it was on their agenda. When the vines snapped, they grew and reattached to Yixing's hands. If anything all it did was slow down the darkness. Jongin tried to teleport Yixing away, but even that didn't work. He would teleport but Yixing would stay in the same place. His veins become prominent and black, it was clear though that his body was fighting back and trying to stop the monster. Baekhyun came in front and put his hand on the vines. A few retreated from the light coming from his hand and didn't come back, but it wasn't enough. Yixing's irises went from purple to black, and his whites were having the same effect. “You have to fight it!” I told him, still trying to pull him without coming in contact with his hands or the vines. “Trying.” He barely said, we were losing him. “You need to try harder Xing. You want to save us right?” Baekhyun asked, “You want to save the world, save Halliyun?” 

“Yes.” 

“Then I need you right now to fight this monster off.” 

“Fight… monster.” Yixing dropped to his knees, his hands bouncing from normal to infested meant this was working, but how well? “We need you! I'm light and I can fight this dark but I can't do it without you. You are Lay of exo and you do not quit on us!” His Halliyun name, that was the trigger. The purple in Yixing's irises returned. “Buoxian?” Baekhyun was swept to the side when the vines snapped, white instead of black as they hit the monster making him fizzle on it's side. “You okay?” Baekhyun asked, lifting his hands as they were turning normal. “I’m okay Baek. You aren’t going to lose me I promise.” Yixing didn’t try again.  _ “Ten come on! You're the only one out of all of us who is supercharged right now!”  _ Lucas said, before launching himself at the monster and kicking it hard enough on the same side to where it fell. It let out an angry screech. Fun.  _ “I can't kill him!”  _ Him? It's just a monster. Kun looked at him while the monster was in a state of shock, I'm sure having an entire boulder thrown at you isn't a very good feeling.  _ “I can feel it, Kun, I know who this is!” _

_ “No… don't tell me.” _

_ “Hansol deserves a better death than us just killing him like that!”  _ All of WayV stopped. I didn't know who Hansol was, but he seemed to be important.  _ “There isn't another way Ten, I'm sorry.”  _

_ “There is, Baekhyun can kill it.”  _ Yangyang said. “When did you learn you could kill a monster?” Jongin asked, watching Kyungsoo smash the monster between two boulders.  _ “Uh like twenty minutes ago? I almost killed it but then it sent me through the window. When I touch it, it doesn't hurt me because I'm light ya know? You just need to get it- him still. Kun, can you try again?”  _ He nodded and tried to start to break the world back up again with no avail.  _ “I can't. Give me some time.”  _ Baekhyun's hands lit up and he made a beam of light shine on the monster, who wailed and tried to hit him. Then the beam became solid, as in solid light. A thing that doesn't exist. Then again, humans aren't supposed to be able to fly so this seems like a Halliyun thing. It impaled the monster and had more of an impact than Minseok and I did. It howled in pain and stumbled backwards. Kun fractures the area around them, and Baekhyun dissolves the beam. He puts his hands on the side of Hansol, and he begins to glow. He doesn't really try to fight it, as it doesn't seem to hurt him. In just a few moments, what used to be a monster fizzled into a silhouette of a person then a little light that went back in the crack and Ten finally sealed it up. 

Yangyang was first to run inside the house. “Yangyang!” Their leader called after him before following. The boy climbed up the ladder into the void. Baekhyun stayed down. “UNB!” Yangyang shouted to the stars. The stars shifted and small but bright white ones came together. “I guess the ones that pass do shine brighter.” I hear Ten softly say.  _ “Ge look, there were only eight and now there are nine. I told you he couldn’t be a monster forever. Baekhyun you did it!”  _ The Halliyun gave a proud smile,  _ “I guess I did.”  _ We all kinda wanted to ask who was Hansol and what happened to him, but it didn’t seem like our place to ask.  _ “Can I come to the place?”  _ Yangyang asked hopefully.  _ “Not this time. It's too risky.”  _ Yangyang didn’t get upset this time when Xiao Jun told him no, just nodded.  _ “We need to clean up the house anyway and put something in front of the hole. Are you staying Hendery?” _

_ “Yeah, are you staying too Baekhyun?”  _ We looked down at him expectantly.  _ “Uh, I uh may. I know I probably will come since my memory could be jogged. I don’t want to not come and you could need me. I want to be helpful not a hindrance like I have been.” _

_ “Baek you are not a hindrance,”   _ Yixing comforted him,  _ “You didn’t decide to start fading that isn’t your fault.”  _ Baekhyun didn’t say anything back, but it was clear he didn’t fully believe his friend. “You know, you saved us. We were this close to only being 11 today.” I told him quietly when I came down with everyone else. “Hey Baekhyun, could I have one of those solid beams? It's practically a staff and I fight with them better than just my hands.”

“Yeah, I'm sure I can make one for you my lesser powered friend.” Tao put him in a chokehold and made a stupid noise when Baekhyun shined his hand in his face, making him fall. I probably should have paid attention to whatever Kun, Kris, and Ten were saying at that moment. However, this was much more entertaining. (Besides, they were probably talking about worse things like how to not die during this mess.) “You do this now but when you do something and need me to go back in time I won't and you'll live with the embarrassment.”

“Then you can stop thinking about me making the staff.”

“Forget I asked.”

“Make me.” Baekhyun taunted, but made the staff in his hands nonetheless. Tao went to touch it, but winced and shrunk his hands away. “It's still a beam and burns.” 

_ “Light isn't supposed to be hot considering it doesn't have a defined temperature,”  _ Xiao Jun looked at the beam with curiosity on his face,  _ “Since it doesn't have atoms and all. I guess since the light is solid and that it's compacted together it could be very hot. Chanyeol could probably hold it.”  _ Baekhyun gave it to him to test out, and he could hold it just fine. He was going to give it to Minseok, who took a step back. “Just because I can withstand hot temperatures, the heat you give off and I wear gloves doesn't mean I can't burn idiot!” Then Yixing said something in Chinese to Tao after healing his burn, and held out his palm. The entirety of it was covered in green. “Recently if I try hard enough I’ve been able to make life out of nothing. Not anything big like a beating heart, not that I’d want that in my hands. I can make small leaves and grasses and moss as you can see. They all can also survive anywhere, no sunlight or water required but I’d prefer it if you did.”

“How long is recent?” I asked. “A few days, since I’ve been taking care of Baekhyun actually. Probably because I’ve been using more of my powers for bigger things now.” The newly created plant life went from Yixing’s hand to the beam and wrapped all the way around save for the top. It looked very nice, the leaves wrapped horizontally so they wouldn’t poke out on whoever was holding the staff.  “Aw, the moss didn’t grow all the way.” Tao didn’t seem to care and held it in his hands without having to be burned. “That's the coolest! I can burn people now with the tips yes! Thanks, ge!” He laughed and smiled. “Woah Zi, take it outside if you want to mess with your staff. You're going to burn the house down.” I say. He and Lucas smiled and ran out of the house.  _ “Hey uh guys,”  _ Xiao Jun said,  _ “What do we do about the window hole?”  _ Yixing went over to the place where Baekhyun crashed out of, and put his hand there. Soon the hole was covered with branches draped in green, in front of small holes were purple flowers. “Since it's small and not the best window, I added in apron flowers. They will eat bugs that come by so you don’t have to worry about them. Again you probably won’t need to water them yourselves since they’re outside but you probably should check every now and then.” 

_ “Hey Yixing! This is so cool you should try it out!”  _

_ “I'm quite content with just watching you later, have you set anything of fire Zitao?” _

_ “You're the only one who calls me that, you sound like my mom and no I have not thank you very much- ah! Lucas, you're 14 not four put it down!” _

“We'll think of a plan, you go check on them.” Kris tells me. I sighed. It sounded like my cue to make sure no one dies or burns everything.

 

* * *

It's around nine when we decide to go. It's a little tense, but Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Jongdae make quick work of the mood with jokes and antics. It is a success, we forget this idea could kill us. Yangyang and Hendery almost tackled the rest of WayV. They smiled at one another and held on while saying little things.  _ “Come back safe, or who else is going to cook for me?”  _ Yangyang said. They laughed and Kun rubbed his hair,  _ “We'll be back didi. Now you two finish cleaning, and we will be back before you know it.”  _

_ What if we,”  _ Yangyang paused for dramatic effect,  _ “Don't finish cleaning?”  _ Kun fractured the area around him.  _ “Never mind I'll finish okay? Let me out!”  _

_ “Hendery make sure he actually finishes.”  _ He gave a mock salute.  _ “Good luck.”  _ Kris gives him a short smile and then says something in Chinese, before Jongin teleports us. He left us back on the building we held the stakeout on.  _ “Hey Joonmyeon,”  _ He asked,  _ “I know this isn't the place but is it ok that we stopped here first? I wanted to give Baek time before he has to go back.”  _ I nodded. “Jongdae, when we go in your job is to screw up the cameras.” 

“Alright. Can I just do one thing before we go in?” He takes his rosary off and closes his eyes. “Please give us a safe journey and protect us. Let us come out of here with what we came for, may you guide us and be our shepherd. Thank you, amen.” He opens his eyes and puts his rosary on, “If we make it out of here alive remind me to thank the man upstairs for a change.” Kris says and Jongdae smiles. I look to Kun who gives me a firm nod, “Ready.”

“Alright then, Jongin you know what to do.” We teleport to the roof of the building and pull up our masks. “Are there any cracks in there?” I asked.  _ “No, so we have no place to get in.”  _ Xiao Jun says.  _ “Don't worry, we thought of that beforehand.”  _ He put his hands to his lips and pointed to Baekhyun and Ten. The two of them were walking on the roof, almost everywhere. Then they even put their ears to it.  _ “Here,”  _ Ten points,  _ “No people in this part. There aren’t even many people at all that we can hear.” _

_ “The walls are really thick, they were made by Halliyun so other Halliyun wouldn’t be able to really hear what’s happening. Now how do we get in? No cracks, and teleporting to somewhere Jongin hasn't seen before is bad for him.”  _ Tao’s eyes lit up.  _ “If me and Jongin go in and I take a picture and come back we can get in without him passing out.”  _

_ “Give it a shot.”  _ Kris tells them, and the two of them poof. I hope they don’t get into trouble that makes Tao have to take long-

_ “The walls are really thick, they were made by Halliyun so other Halliyun wouldn’t be able to really hear what’s happening. Now how do we get in? No cracks, and teleporting to somewhere Jongin hasn't seen before is bad for him.”  _ Tao pulled out his phone and handed it to Jongin,  _ “Courtesy of me being amazing I had the great idea of having Jongin poof in, take a picture, and I come back from two minutes in the future to bless you with the inside of the room. Now let’s get in and get out.”  _ When we’re in, we’re met with a dark room save for a few dim lights. After looking around it didn’t surprise me that no one was inside it seemed to be a storage room. Baekhyun almost tripped on a box and I caught him. His grip was tight on my wrist even after he was settled.  _ “Hyung I don’t think I can do this, I can’t be back here.”  _ I had a sinking feeling he was going to say that but I hoped he wouldn’t.  _ “If you think you really can’t do it, I won’t make you go out of this room. We can have one of WayV send you back to their house, but if you come with us we’ll protect you and we will fight together alright?”  _ He messes with the hem of his shirt before nodding. “Okay,” He whispers, “I’ll come.” I gave him a soft smile.  _ “Do you think if we go out there’s a possibility you could figure out where the book is?”  _

_ “Maybe.”  _ His focus shifted from me to behind me, and I turned back. Kun’s eyes were glowing pale green. Lucas tried to grab his leader but Kris didn’t let him.  _ “No. That’s Eidian. If you mess with him, he will make it worse for Kun.” _

_ “Who is Eidian?”  _ Lucas asked. No one answered because Kun went back to normal.  _ “Go down the hall, go to the left, go to the large room and the second door on the right. That’s what he told me.” _

_ “Just told you for no price? Doesn’t sound real.” _ _   
_ _ “I know Kris. When I asked all he said was that getting there would be hard enough, with no cheating. I don’t know what that means, this is real life, not a video game how could we cheat?”  _ None of us knew the answer to that. I took a deep breath. Down the hall first. I open the door, and we run. Down the hall we go. When we said it was almost empty we were right, we just didn't know how empty. We didn't make contact with a single Wasp until we got to the large room. We were about to open the second door on the right when we heard a shot fired and a gasp, we whipped around just in time to see Xiao Jun crumple to the ground. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he started foaming at the mouth. What was he shot with? “No.” Tao said before taking a step backward-

_ “-This is real life not a video game how could we cheat?”  _ None of us knew the answer to that. I took a deep breath. Down the hall first. I open the door, and we run. Down the hall we go. When we said it was almost empty we were right, we just didn't know how empty.  _ “Xiao Jun get in front of us.”  _ Tao told him.  _ “But what if a Wasp-” _

_ “I've been down this route, Kris watch our backs.”  _ He nodded and we get to the big room. The door had a keypad, and Jongdae was about to open it when,  _ “Suho, duck!”  _ Kris yells over the link and I do just in time to see something whizz over my head and hit the wall. Two needles, one with blue stuff in them and another with red. We turn around and see a Wasp holding a small gun. “Even with that mask on you could never hide from me,” The voice wasn't changed like all other voices from Wasps, he was real, “It's been some time Yi-” Kris stops him from talking with some words in Chinese, and at that moment I realized who that was. It was his father.  _ “Go, I'll handle him.”  _ When I looked at him, I didn't see what Ten held in his eyes when we had to kill Hansol; remorse. There was only anger in Kris's eyes.  _ “Go!”  _ Luhan opens the door and we go into what wasn't a room, but inside was an elevator for some reason. Whoever designed this building did not want normal people in here. We get in and I give Kris one last look before he closes the door behind us. “Baekhyun, try and pick a floor.” Ten says. I was right about the underground thing. They had four other floors. He picked the fourth and the ride down felt slower than an elevator should be. All I could think about was Kris fighting. If his father was there, other Wasps could be too. The elevator stopped and the door opened to a dark room. Baekhyun emitted light from his hands as we walked in, and Tao's staff ends were bright. I felt a presence, like someone was watching me. I looked up, and was met with a pair of bright yellow eyes looking back at me. I move just as the owner of the pair tries to land on me.  _ “Baekhyun, lights!”  _ He puts his hand on the wall and the room gets brighter. Four other girls all around our ages drop down. “Nice to make the acquaintance exo. We've heard of you.” I knew this would bite me in the butt, they were the girls from earlier. Tao held his staff readily. “Allow us to introduce ourselves, we're Marmello. We don't want to fight our own kind, but we can't have you take our book.” Baekhyun said something in Hain to the girls who replied back. 

A girl with blonde short hair looked to the rest of us, “You all don't speak Hain?” She scoffed, “Half-borns. Hyeona! Doeun! Now.” A girl with red hair and a girl with long blonde hair ran at us. You would think that two girls against 15 boys would be easy, but it wasn't. The two of them constantly spoke in Hain. Which would've been fine if it wasn't helping them. The redhead ran up the wall near Kun and kicked him.  _ “They're reciting spells from the Jintai,”  _ Baekhyun said,  _ “They haven't even used their real power yet if they have any.”  _ That's comforting. 

The short haired girl threw herself onto the ceiling and tried to land on Tao, her palms were also blue. He noticed and burned her with the top of his staff. She got back up, her shoulder was an angry red. “Daeun!” The girl with the pink hair cried out, she hadn't moved to attack us but was holding the Gasa. She said something and shards of glass swirled near her, and then flew towards us. Luhan stopped them and sent them back, one scrapped her arm. She let out another spell which made about a dozen other versions of her. “Not as great as the real deal, but they'll have to do.” Jongin teleported and took the book out of her hands, but the girl- Daeun- said something and the book burned him. He dropped it and she picked it back up, so Chanyeol grabbed it. The spell didn't work on him. The two of them fought for the Jintai, so I focused my attention on the pink girl. She smirked and lunged for me. Her palms glowed and I had a sneaking suspicion on their powers.  _ “Whatever you do, do not let them touch you with their hands.”  _ She kicked me in the stomach and sent me flying across the room. I raised my hands and water from the floors above pummeled onto her. She coughed and then laughed. “Oh, you'll do nicely.” 

“What does that mean?” She just laughed again. “What does that mean?” I yelled and the waters began to swell around her. “Where do you think the fifth of us went?” Before I could do anything a hand grabbed my wrist. The owner of the hand turned me to them, she had brown hair and was looking down. “Sorry.” She whispered, “You're my puppet.” I felt numb, out of control. I didn't feel like I could move my body, and when I tried, I couldn't. “Gaeun don't just stand there, do something with him!” No. Don't do something with me. Let me go! I couldn't talk either.  _ “Wake up Suho. Please. Don't let them have control over you.”  _ Kun pleaded.  _ “I-I'm trying. I-I can't-”  _ The link cut off, I couldn't even speak to them. “What would you have me do Yuna? Why do I have to hurt him?”

“They're hurting us! You know what to do.”

“I'm sorry half-born. Retrieve the Gasa, kill the boy holding it and anyone getting in the way.” No no no. I won't. But my hands were moving, and I tried to think of everything else. Finding Baekhyun, talking to Yangyang, saving that little Luxion months ago, needing to stay with exo, needing to stay alive to make sure Kris keeps his promise. I won't hurt them. I tried to keep my powers dormant. “What is he doing, why is it not working?” Yuna exclaimed. “Gaeun try again!” 

“B-But it could kill hi-”

“Does it matter? Do it again.” I still couldn't move or talk back on the link, but at least I didn't start hurting anyone. She grabbed my wrist with both of her hands. “Again I'm so sorry.” She whispered, “You're my puppet! Retrieve the Gasa and kill anyone who tries to stop you!” The water rose and made a beeline for Chanyeol. Daeun let the book go and Chanyeol was pressed into the wall behind him along with Xiao Jun who was behind him. The water evaporated around their bodies from Chanyeol. Why am I doing this? I kept trying to think like I did last time but it wasn't working. Just before Yuna grabbed the book Baekhyun did and kicked her in the face. Oh no, no please. Don't do this, Baekhyun can't just avoid the water or evaporate it like Chanyeol. I felt like crying but I couldn't even do that.  _ “Please don't do that. You'll be cheating.”  _ It was Kun, then I realized he wasn't talking to me. He probably doesn't know how to talk one on one.  _ “I have to.”  _ Tao said.  _ “Tao don't do it.” _

_ “We will die if I don't. Suho is stronger than any of us and if he doesn't hold back he'll drown us. I know what I need to do this time.”  _ Kun grabbed his arm, and then Tao took a step back-

He nodded and we get to the big room. The door had a keypad, and Jongdae was about to open it when,  _ “Suho, duck!”  _ Kris yells over the link and I do just in time to see something whizz over my head and hit the wall. Two needles, one with blue stuff in them and another with red. We turn around and see a Wasp holding a small gun. “Even with that mask on you could never hide from me,” The voice wasn't changed like all other voices from Wasps, he was real, “It's been some time Yi-” Kris stops him from talking with some words in Chinese, and at that moment I realized who that was. It was his father.  _ “Go, I'll handle him.”  _

_ “Tao are you out of your mind? You can’t go back in time for anyone who has a mark from Eidian he’s going to be so mad.”  _ Kun yelled over the link.  _ “I had to. I'm sorry- oh god Kun!”  _ Scars went over Kun's arms that looked like chains. He fell down as they got redder.  _ “We cheated. We cheated and now he wants me stuck here in this timeline. You cannot go back again. This is the timeline we're stuck with, a life for a life. Baekhyun didn't die so now someone else needs to. When you get done, pick the button with the number four.”  _ None of us knew a single thing that either of them were talking about, but time travel had happened and should not have happened.  _ “Take Kun and go down. Listen to Tao and I'll stay up here. Do exactly what he says so nothing even worse happens.”  _

They open the door which leads to an elevator and they go down. He looks back at me. His father takes off his helmet and throws it to the side before pressing a button and closes the door behind him. He has Kris's features, but I am so happy Kris barely looks like him other than his nose and eyes. His father says something and looks to me. “He doesn't speak Chinese. If you ever want to say anything to me it'll be said so he can hear too.” His father had no emotion in his eyes, his own son in front of him and nothing was in his eyes. Kris had anger. “It’s just you and me and him, no one else is even here but me and your friends. Are you going to kill me son?”

“I'm not your son and I will if I have to.” His wings sprouted and he looked ready to fight. “You're still so small, so angry.”

“And you still look like a traitor.” His father takes a metallic stick that looks like it had electricity flowing through it. I remembered the first time Kris and I met, electricity knocked him out way too easily. “Remember when you clipped my wings? They grew back, grew back much stronger.” 

“Yet they haven’t been metal since that day correct?” Kris’s eyes flared. He flew at his father and pushed him against the wall. He punched him once, twice, a third time before being punched and shocked. You're probably wondering why I am just standing here watching my best friend get electrocuted by his father? Why aren't I helping? Well my power is water and what carries an electric current? Water. I wanted to hit his father but I also don't want to kill Kris.

Kris got back up and hit him again. His dad swung at him on the side of his head, and then tried to grab his throat. Kris kicked him in the stomach twice when he got let go. That's when I brought the water nearby. His father grabbed his stick and tried to beat him with it. Kris was holding back. The man he hated was right here, and he was holding back. I know this because I'm 100% sure Kris could kill him without the stick… The stick! Then Kris yelled out in pain and he crumpled from being electrocuted too many times. I threw out my hand and held onto Kris as water surrounded him and his father. Kris had marks on his face and hands from where he was hit, and it made me see red. I wait for him to drop the stick as he tries to breathe, which happens. I let them out as I get the stick in a water bubble just as I get the wind knocked out of me. His father tackled me the moment he could breathe again, I hear his stick clatter to the floor. “You think I need that to beat either of you! I could kill either of you with my own hands.” 

“He's your own! Why would you say that?”

“He was an experiment for the winning side! My only mistake was paying little attention to his growth.” I couldn't breathe as he put weight on my throat and chest. Kris needs to wake up now, but I remember how long it took him to wake up in the forest. I tried to kick him off but he weighed more than I thought.  _ A life for a life.  _ Kun's words echoed in my head. Baekhyun's for mine it seemed. Then there was a loud  _ clang  _ and he stopped. The air became easy to access. I rolled him over and off of me. Kris hit his father once again with his stick. “Your one mistake was hurting the best woman on the planet and letting her son live.” His father laughed as he coughed up blood, and it made me wonder if this was all Kris's doing, how hard he could punch you when he didn't hold back at all. “I suppose you're just going to leave me here? Let me die of my injuries?”

“No,” Kris practically spat, “We're not cruel with a lack of a moral compass. Suho could you move the water over here?” Actually, I was enjoying the water, it was healing me and I'd like to keep it. Nonetheless I flicked my wrist and it gathered by the very broken family over there. “Why,” He asked his father, “Why did you do those things and pretend to want her? She really loved you before then.”

“Because you would always be just a half-born and an experiment. You were to never be worth anything. And she was just a part of an experiment.” I couldn't watch as Kris got off the ground and let the stick drop into the water whilst being on. His father's scream and then his silence was enough. Kris was silent, helped me up from where I was laying down. My back hurt more than it should have which led me to believe whatever timeline Tao was in before this gave me terrible injuries and they were all meshed together. I didn't use the water that surrounded Kris's father though, couldn't bear to. 

We opened the door to the elevator and I pressed the number four. “Do y-”

“I’m fine Joonmyeon.” That was one of the biggest lies in the history of big lies. I didn’t say anything else, I’ll let him fight it on his own until he needs me. The elevator opened and we were almost hit with a rock. We ducked just in time for it to leave an ugly dent where half of my face was.  _ “D.O? Aim a bit better next time!”  _

_ “Not D.O,”  _ Tao said, fighting a girl with red hair,  _ “Girl touched him now he’s under mind control and now he’s trying to kill us. They touch you you’re either under control or become a target for him. Lucas and Xiao Jun are sidelined because he got stabbed with a needle full of blue stuff that shut off his powers, we sent him back to his home.”  _

“Oh fun! You have two other friends! Put them on your list of people to kill.” A girl with short blonde hair said holding the Gasa. There were about a dozen more of her fighting our friends. Sicheng and Lucas were back to back trying to throw her copycats into cracks, but every time they did a new one came at them. There was a girl who wasn’t fighting with brown hair off to the side. I had no reason to go to her, and currently had bigger fish to fry like my out of control Luxion member. The out of control Luxion member that just made eye contact with me. It confused me on why none of the girls or the clones were trying to hurt me, then I saw why. He raised his hand and the ground began to rumble. Yixing ran and put his hands on Kyungsoo’s shoulders. “Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep.” That slowed down the rumbling but didn’t stop it. Why wouldn't he sleep? “Oh throw him off you idiot!” The short-haired blonde said. “Hey!” Jongin shouted, teleporting to her to hit her, “Only I can call my best friend an idiot Dae-eun!”

“It’s Daeun!” She yelled and tried but failed to grab him before he was out of reach. Kyungsoo listened to her and shoved Yixing off. Then the rumbling got louder and was again right under me. The ground began to crack where I was standing. “No!” Kris grabbed my arm as I tried to move, but it was too late. The both of us were blasted into the air by rock rising from the ground, sending us through not one, not two, not three, not four, not six, but five floors and onto the roof. Kris had gotten on top of me as close as he could and covered me with his wings. My biggest surprise was that I was barely scathed, and from the looks of it Kris was also mostly fine. “How are we alive?” I breathed. I could barely grasp it until I could. His wings were metal. “I guess they only come when I really need to protect the people I care about.” Even though he had his mask on, I knew he was smiling because his eyes crinkled up. Then he laughed probably out of relief, getting up and off me. The metallic grey was beautiful as the moon shines on them. “We need to get back down- ah!” He winced and grabbed his shoulder. “Are you alright?” He nodded. “All that building falling down took a toll on me. I'll be alright. Now how do we get down without disturbing the peace of the normal people?” 

“I think we did that the moment we popped out onto the roof. I wouldn't want you to have to fly again when you're hurt.” Then I had a great idea. All of the water in the building I sent up here which made a hole. I grab Kris's hand and we plunge into the water. On the way down I'm happily healing, and hopefully I'm healings Kris while I hold his hand through this. 

When we land back on the underground fourth floor, no one else has been taken over which is great, but Kyungsoo is still not normal. “You half-borns just won't die!” Daeun exclaimed. She said something in Hain which made glass shards rise up around her and aim for Kris and I that Luhan stopped and sent back her way. The Jintai Gasa was currently in Baekhyun's hands. He held it tightly and stayed by Ten. The brown haired girl still hadn't moved from her spot near the wall, never laid a finger on anyone. “Yuna!” Daeun shouted, “Take care of the book!” The pink haired girl rolled her eyes. “Yuna this and Yuna that. No one listened to me when I said we were being watched earlier today, but fine! Boss me around. Alright then, let's tango Halliyun.” Ten put his hand up and grabbed her leg out of the air as she tried to kick him. However, the two of them ended up falling and fighting. She tried to touch him, but his entire body turned so silver that you could see your own reflection. “Next time you hate on the prince, check what power set the prince has. You're currently  _ my _ puppet.” He kicked her off of him, and she began to shake. “She'll be like that for a while, her powers are backfiring since I used them on her.” 

“Ugh! You really had to go and mess up everything huh? Yuna touched your friend so she was the only one with proper control over him. Now I actually have to go over there and touch one of you to get him to listen!” 

Daeun moved to Yuna and tried to help her when she, Kris, and Kun groaned in pain. “Well that's quite enough of that now.” A voice said. A boy who seemed a little older than Kris materializes in front of us. He has wild greenish-yellow hair and pale skin and is dressed in a black suit. It doesn't take long for us to put two and two together, the one thing Kun and Kris have in common other than being Chinese is, “Eidian.” I say lowly. “Suho, glad to finally meet you. You're a very good motivator for Kris here. Seeing the thousands of possible ways you could die at my hands really does wonders for persuasion.” It took all of my willpower not to say some choice words to the immortal. “What are you here for?” I ask instead. “Well you see I don't like having my amazing contenders fighting one another. Daeun, Kun, and Kris are mine as of now and this is not how I want any of them to die. However, you,” He pointed to Kun and the chain scars turned red and he curled into a ball, even Yixing couldn't fully calm the pain, “You cheated. Tried to bend fate and time to your will for people who are going to die eventually anyway. Why did you do it? Because of your fear. Tell them, tell them what you were afraid of losing and why you still let Tao do what he did.” The only sound that left Kun's mouth was incoherent sounds from how badly he was hurting. Eidian rolled his eyes, “You have no pain tolerance. Fine. Now speak.” Some of the redness went away. “I was scared! I was scared that this would have a chain effect and Yangyang would end up back with his horrible family! That you would take him from us and he'd be alone for my test when you take away something.”

“You should not have done that, I only take when you lose. Now we have to fix this mess.”

“A life for a life! Someone already died in place of whoever else was supposed to die.”

“It was Buoxian.” Eidian said nonchalantly. “My name is Baekhyun.” Our Halliyun hissed. “Whatever you prefer. But you see, Xiao Jun was also supposed to be gone. I didn't count that as cheating because either way two people were going to die. Suho and Baekhyun, Suho and Chanyeol, Daeun and Baekhyun. Then Tao went back and didn't just ruin the timeline, he made his own! No one is supposed to have that type of power, I thought you learned your lesson last time.” Tao was frozen in fear when the attention was turned on him. Kris stepped in front of the younger. “Leave him alone.”

“Normally you sound more threatening, you could even give me a run for my money. Is it because you just had to kill your father? That was probably Tao's fault by the way.”

“Shut up.” 

“But it was. He wouldn't have died if it had gone the way it should have. Anyway, I feel like this is not fair to Marmello, you cheated them out of a fair fight. So don't worry, I've got a great idea on which way this now stupid timeline should go.” He snapped his fingers and we were no longer in the Wasp place. And not all of us were here either, wherever here is. It's a foggy clearing in a bamboo forest. Only Tao, Kun, Kris, Luhan, Ten, and I were here with all of Marmello in front of us. Then I saw the Eidian tattoo on Daeun's wrist, curled. “I've been here. Once.” Kris said looking around. “Yes,” Eidian was sitting on a floating throne of bamboo, “You my contenders have all been to my realm to pick your fate. Now we will do it once again. Today we will have a little fight, because you cheated, no powers.”

“What are we fighting for?” Eidian smirked at Kun's question. “You.” He snapped his fingers and Kun transported to next to the dragon who was currently human. A green set of chains wrapped around him and he yelled in pain. “Let him go!” Ten pleaded. “Wow, the prince himself even begs. I'm flattered. Today we fight for fate and the correction of it! If Marmello bests you, Kun is dead and Daeun will have his powers. Exo and Nct win, you will have a relatively unscathed Kun and I will drop right back into the time you just left. The second death will have to come differently. Also, I won't kill Tao for messing with me for a second time.”

_ “Is this like a fight to the death?”  _ He crossed one leg over the other and looked on. “Whatever I decide Luhan. Also, no talking like that it's power so I'm revoking it. For now, take it like it is. Begin.” I'm sorry what? Then I was promptly tackled by the redhead before I could think. She was strong. I held her back before she pulled something out of her hair- who keeps a blade in there to hold hair up? How does that even work? She tried to stab me, but I grabbed her hand. “Why do you protect this world?” She asked me, getting a jab right next to my ear. “They don't love us.”

“This is my home.” It just made her narrow her eyes and before she could do anything more I kicked her off, her blade flying in the opposite direction. Tao noticed and picked it up and tossed it to Luhan. Tao had ended up breaking a piece of bamboo and was fighting the long blonde haired girl named Doeun. 

Ten was fighting Yuna, who probably had a grudge against him by now. “I can beat you without my powers.” I heard his taunt. “Many apologizes your majesty, but those were my powers and you're deathly mistaken.” Both her and Ten seemed good at hand to hand combat. The girl I was fighting was now currently interested in killing Kris, which seemed to be a bad idea. I turned in a circle and spotted the brunette. We made eye contact and she still didn't try to attack me. She pointed at herself, then made the slicing motion at her throat. I shook my head, I wasn't going to kill her. Maybe I should fight her, but I can't when she hasn't done anything. Not another death because of me. I began to fight the redhead with Kris. “It's only a deathmatch if we make it one,” We stand back to back, “We hold them off until Eidian gets bored and chooses a winner and we hold them off better so he lets Kun go.” That was when I saw Yuna go _flying._ When I say flying, I mean it was as if Kyungsoo had thrown her with his strength. There was an angry look on Ten's face. “She said something bad about Kun, I wasn't going to let that slide.” Then we heard an upset groan come from above us. Eidian was sitting in his throne, he didn't look pleased. “Oh come on! This is boring! The boys aren't even trying to kill Marmello, don't you want Kun back?” 

“Oh, we're getting him back.” Ten said unafraid. “And what makes you so sure your highness?”

“You're a strong spirit Eidian, almost one of the gods-”

“Do not compare me to them. I wasn't stupid enough to get myself killed. But carry on, this must have a point.” Ten took a step towards him, even when Kun shook his head. “You can mess with any Halliyun you see fit, you can take whatever you want from them. You represent struggle and misfortune, but you also represent power and balance. Balance is something you have to have. You can't function properly without it can you?” Was Ten gambling with a literal dragon? Yes. Did it seem to be working? Yes. He took another step, and a white marble stair formed in the air. “Killing Kun could bring balance because someone else needs to die, but anyone else is up for grabs. Two other people could get killed at the exact same time and ruin the timeline even more. None of our fates are fully sealed, are they? You don't know who is going to live or die other than Kun because his life is technically in your hands right now. The balance would be flipped on its head if another person dies.” By then Ten was standing right in front of Eidian. He placed his fingers together and smiled menacingly, but Ten remained unfazed. “And what does any of that have to do with you getting Kun?”

“Number one; you can't directly kill a person with your tattoo outside of their dreams. Even if you left him almost dead, we have a healer. You wanted us to kill someone in Marmello or they kill us to set the balance and fix time.”

“And number two?”

“You let me up here.” Ten kicked Kun who fell and was caught by Luhan. Ten jumped down and looked back up at the astounded spirit. “I feel like I should be mad at you for that but I'm genuinely amazed you were smart and ballsy enough to do that. If I could have used the prince as a contender I would've done it, you're quite smart Chittaphon. It's clear that we've got a winner now, sorry girls. I'll be seeing two of you very soon. And Ten, do not  _ ever _ get in my face again if you want to keep your tongue.” He looked back at me and winked, “Good luck.” He snapped and we were right back where we had stood when we had left. No time had passed.

That's when a lot happened at once, then one after another. Yuna had aimed to touch Baekhyun, who was holding the Gasa. At the same time Yixing was reaching out to her to make her sleep to see if it would help Kyungsoo, who already had a boulder up waiting for her command. It felt like I was watching it all in slow motion. Just before she touched Baekhyun, Kun with the last of his strength threw out his hand. All around Baekhyun reality turned into fragments and Yuna's hand passed right through him and touched Daeun instead. Then just two seconds later she knocked out because Yixing touched her. 

Two seconds too late, Kyungsoo had already thrown the boulder. Everything stopped as it struck Daeun, the force sending her into the wall well behind her by then. There was an unsettling  _ crunch  _ when she came in contact, and Kyungsoo looked down at his hands and was pale in the face. If only he had been in control a little earlier. Yixing ran to her but was held back by Baekhyun. “I can save her! Five minutes after someone is dead I can save them! Baekhyun let me go please!” He whispered something to Yixing that made him stop fighting but still talking. “It's not fair! Baek it's not right! They deserve to have her back! He shouldn't- shouldn't have.” Marmello looked at their fallen leader, Yuna in the brunette's arms. “He did this. He knew.” The redhead who tried to shank me balled her fist as her eyes watered. Gasa began to vibrate, its brown cover glowing. “Hyeona don't!” Doeun tried to stop her. She began to recite Hain and shards of glass raised up and swirled. “Are you happy now?” She yelled to the ceiling, “She's dead! Are you happy? The balance is back and now you've lost someone! I hate you I hate this!” She screamed angrily and the shards blasted out. Kris covered me and we ducked. We were okay, I saw that no one else had gotten hurt… so I thought. Yixing had a multitude of cuts, I didn't think much of it until I saw him holding Baekhyun who had a deep red stain on his chest. “Buo...xian?” None of Yixing's cuts were deep enough to need more than a band-aid then I remember he has hemophilia. He's going to bleed out. And it's not like he has a mild version of it, his version is going to kill him if he doesn’t start healing himself.  “Go,” Hyeona's voice wavered, “Get out or I won't hesitate on making the spell stronger.” 

_ “Kai… Kai take us home please.”  _ Luhan said. We held hands and closed our eyes. 

When we open we're not at WayV's house, but 2ne1’s. Oh. He took us  _ home.  _ “Boys? You're back how are- oh good lord Baekhyun and Yixing!” Min Ji stretched her arm and Bom came. She didn't acknowledge anyone else. “Table, now.” She moved Baekhyun first to the table she had Minseok sit on when she checked out his ankle. He laid down eyes threatening to close. “Baekhyun focus on me. You can't sleep yet.” Yixing said, hands glowing yellow to place them on him. “N-No. Heal yourself or you'll die.” Baekhyun barely got out. “If I don't heal you  _ you  _ die.” I turn to Jongin. “Teleport me and WayV back to their house. Don't ask.” He does and Ten, Sicheng, and Kun are greeted by their members. In rapid Chinese, they reconcile and hug and worry about Kun. I grab my bag that I brought and we go back. I fish for the small blue container I used on Kris. 

Yixing is bleeding profusely and still managing to heal a now sleeping Baekhyun as Bom tries slowly to remove the glass from his chest. His bloody shirt was gone, Jongin and Sehun had started placing quickly soaked towels over Yixing’s cuts. However, Yixing's barely even standing up. I open it and take Yixing's arm and spread the magic blue stuff over his arms. “C-Cold.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cold. You’re going to be okay Yixing.” Kris said, doing the same action to his other arm. “The rest of you should go to bed. Anyone else hurt should wait until the morning unless you’re dying too.” Chaerin said, getting up even to leave herself to not have to watch. The members left the room slowly, and Jongdae left his rosary by Baekhyun’s head. Kris and I got up once we had covered Yixing’s arms. “Wait, stay.” He asked softly. We sat beside him, and Bom took out the final shard of glass. I had turned away by then and Kris gripped my hand. It was a long shard, and he shook. There was a hole in his chest that I knew Yixing was trying so desperately to close. “I won’t work fast enough. More pressure Bom.” I couldn’t look, if I did I might have thrown up. It took some more time to heal the hole, then Yixing collapsed. “He’s okay,” Bom reassured us, picking him up, “He gave his all and his body shut down.”

“How is that a good thing?” Kris practically yelled. “Because he’ll heal himself as he sleeps. In due time he will wake up and he will be alright, for now he can’t put others before himself.” I looked at Baekhyun, who was also still asleep. “Is he gonna be okay?” The hole was gone. “Yixing did it. Baekhyun will make a full recovery in maybe two days for what takes other people much longer. I will take them to their rooms now.”

“Their room is the one with all the plants by the window.” Bom nodded, “Both of you get some sleep. You guys did good today.” We walk with her until we end up at our room. Quietly I turn on the light and throw my bag onto my bed. She told us we did good today, but if we had done better could our members be alright? Would Kun not be bruised and in pain? Slowly I turn back to Kris. His fists are balled, and he's looking down. I don't know what to say to him, I don't know how to confront or comfort him. “Hey Kris, I know you don't like to talk-” I'm cut off by Kris, by Kris hugging me. Kris hugging  _ me.  _ It's nice, but I wished this wasn't the only reason he'd hug me. I hug him back, I still don't say anything. I don't want him to shut himself off when he's clearly been holding a lot in for a long time. “Every day,” Kris starts, “Every stupid day he'd hold the stick and tell me if I cried I'd get shocked. He said it like it was my only weakness, and he had it in his hand. He would shock me anyway though, say it's because I needed to learn to man up. I used to cry as a kid because I didn't understand why my wings hurt when they grew or why I couldn't stretch them out around other people, and he would say they're a weakness. My tears were bad. So I stopped crying. I forgot how it felt. Then today happened and I was this close to doing it, but I can't.”

“You can allow yourself to have feelings Kris. He isn't there, the stick is gone.” 

“It's not.” He pulls it out from his back pocket. “Why keep it?” 

“They'll give it to someone else, hurt someone else. I want to destroy it, flush it down the toilet anything. It feels like I'm being shocked by it all the time, every time I see you or anyone else I care about get hurt it's like a shock. What if any of you get hurt and there's nothing I can do about it huh? I couldn't do anything today. I couldn't save Kun, I couldn't save Baekhyun or Yixing, and I couldn't- couldn't save Daeun. She didn't deserve her life to be taken like that, no one deserves that.”

“I know,” I hug him tighter, “I know. But you saved me today twice, that’s more than I could ever do for you.”

“You’ve saved me more ways than you know.” I didn’t know what that meant, but I didn’t ask. “You ever need to talk instead of keeping it inside I’m always here. We share a room and I have insomnia, we have all the time in the world.” He doesn’t let go of me for a little longer, and I feel moderately okay for the first time in a while. “Are you good Myeon?” 

“I’ll be fine. When we win, I’ll be fine. Now go take a shower so I can.” He nods and takes his bag. “Wait, do you have any more of that stuff we put on Yixing?”

“No,” I say opening my bag, “But I do have rubbing alcohol.” I toss it to him. “This is upsetting. This burns.”

“Do you want painful long term places on your skin or temporary pain for now?” He scrunches up his face and closes the door. Cute. I hear him hiss in pain. “You’ll live!”

 

I’m up two hours later as per usual. It’s 2 a.m and I want to sleep but I still can’t. Yixing and Baekhyun are on my mind. I mean Baekhyun will be alright but Yixing? How long until he wakes up? I sigh. “Is it over?”

“Is what over?” I forgot he was next to me, I didn’t even know he was awake, or heard. “We found the last Gasa, all we have to do is not show up and Jongin won’t make the portal. Can’t this all be over and we can all just go home?” Kris was quiet for a little, then, “Not yet Myeon. We need to turn off the machine, who knows if they can still open the hole without a good portal. People could still die if it opens. It’s not over yet.” I get angry, we've already done so much for what? For what feels like almost nothing. Every time we go out we feel like nothing amounts to all that pain that comes from the fighting, “But still where do we even go from here?” Oh god, I shouldn't have asked if this was over Kris doesn't need to think about my problems when he's finally thinking of his own. He was probably more scared than I was deep down. “I mean, we had WayV to help us find the Gasa and your friend to give 2ne1 the blueprint which we needed Bts to help with. What if we need to fight on our own? We barely survived a fight with  _ five  _ other Halliyun what happens if we go in and one of us doesn't get to come-” I place my hands on the sides of his face, it made him be quiet last time and it worked this time. “You told me we would make it out, you can’t be telling me about everything bad that has happened I do that enough. We both have to try and stay strong and think about the good things.”

“What good things?” The fact he was growing more worried made me want to stop him from being scared. The thing was, I’ve never seen him so scared. It's dark, so I can’t really tell how his face looks, but I do know how he would look. His eyes would be hard and cold but not how they normally do, they would be moving back and forth looking around. Kris probably would’ve bit his lip the way he does when he’s distracted or a little worried. His tight grip on my wrist was a little of a giveaway as well. “Well if this had never happened, Luhan and Baekhyun wouldn’t be here, Yixing would have never stepped out of his village, Sicheng would have never met his Luxion, Sehun may have never gotten away from his family, and Minseok and Yeol would never have left their circus. And I would have never met you so yeah maybe this has all been a big shitstorm but at least I have all of you during this mess. Just remember the good things and then we can have something to celebrate, winning.” His hands went from my wrists to my own cheeks. “Your hands are cold.” I whisper. He laughs softly, “Yours are really warm.”

“Is that bad?” He shakes his head. “I’m cold you’re warm. I’m outgoing you’re quieter. I’m tall you’re-”

“Don’t you dare.” He laughs again. “Anyway, what I’m trying to get at is we’re opposites. Extremely different.”

“Is that a problem? Is being opposites not good?”

“No cause imagine if we were similar. There would be no leader who can be nice and calm or one who can be a little stronger. It’s a good thing for us to be here, like Yin and Yang.”   
“Have to be together for everything to be alright?”

“Yeah.”

“So let’s be together.” I felt his face change, “We are together. Right here.”

“No,” I try to say, “ _ Together _ .” 

“Oh.” Oh. We’ve been at this for a while and all I get is an oh. “Not now Joonmyeon. We can’t.”

“Well I know that but I mean later when we win. When we win and death isn’t the primary issue what if we think about it eventually?”

“Of course Myeonnie. We should sleep now, it’s two in the morning.” I sigh, “It doesn’t work that way.” 

“Then try okay?” I nod and he let’s go of my face and I do the same. I lay back down, his hands are cold but he feels warm on my side. I close my eyes hoping to catch sleep. I felt like even though I couldn’t promise Sehun tomorrow earlier, I can finally promise eventually to Kris as of now.


End file.
